COTTON 




PICKING SCENE. 

A great field white with bursting bolls and dotted by a score or more of dusky 
pickers, and the haunting melody of old-time negro songs — here indeed is a sight 
and a sound never to be forgotten. 



Cl^e farm Hilirari? 



COTTON 

Its Cultivation, Marketing, Manufacture, 

and the Problems of the 

Cotton World 



BY 

CHARLES WILLIAM BURKETT 

Professor of Agriculture, North Carolina College of Agriculture and 
Mechanic Arts, 

AND 

CLARENCE HAMILTON POE 




NEW YORK 
Doubleday, Page & Company 
1906 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Onnies Received 

JUL 19 1906 

Ij CoDvneiit Entry 



•B3 



Copyright, 1906, by Doubleday, Page & Company 
Published July, 1906 



All rights reserved, 

including thai of translation into foreign languages 

including the Scandinavian 



XV 



7? 

Yonder bird, 

Which floats, as if at rest. 

In those blue tracts above the thunder, where 

No vapors cloud the stainless air. 

And never sound is heard, 

Unless at such rare time 

When, from the City of the Blest, 

Rings down some golden chime, 

Sees not from his high place. 

So vast a cirque of summer space 

As widens round me in one mighty field. 

Which, rimmed by seas and sands. 

Doth hail its earliest daylight in the beams 

Of gray Atlantic dawns; 

And, broad as realms made up of many lands, 

Is lost afar 

Behind the crimson hills and purple lawns 

Of sunset, among plains which roll their streams 

Against the Evening Star ! 

And lo ! 

To the remotest point of sight. 

Although I gaze upon no waste of snow. 

The endless field is white; 

And the whole landscape glows. 

For many a shining league away. 

With such accumulated light 

As Polar lands would flash beneath a tropic day ! 

—From "The Cotton Boll," by Henry Timrod. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

INTRODUCTION: HAIL, THE KING! . 3 

SECTION I.— KING COTTON: HIS REALM 
AND HIS SUBJECTS 

Chapter I. — History of Cotton: From Ancient India to 

Our Own Time . • . . .13 

Chapter II. — Acreage and Production: Where the 

World's Supply is Grown , . . .20 

Chapter III. — Does Foreign Competition Threaten the 

South 's Supremacy ? . . . .27 

Chapter IV. — The Men Who Make Cotton : Whites and 

Blacks ; Planters and Tenants . . .35 

Chapter v.— A 25,000,000 Bale Crop: Will the South 

Be Ready When the World Demands It ? . .42 

Chapter VI. — Cotton: What It Means and Will Mean to 

the Southern States . . . .53 

Chapter VII. — The Organization of Cotton Growers and 

What It May Accomplish . . . .58 

Chapter VIII. — Stopping the Leaks in Cotton Profits . 68 

SECTION II.— THE COTTON PLANT: HOW IT 
GROWS AND IS GROWN 

Chapter IX. — Structure and Botanical Relations . 77 

Chapter X. — Varieties of Cotton and Their Classification 85 



vUi CONTENTS— Cow/mwerf 

PAGE 

Chapter XI. — Breeding Up the Cotton Plant . . 93 

Chapter XII. — The King's Realm: The Land of Sunshine 104 
Chapter XIII, — Soils and How to Handle Them . 109 

Chapter XIV. — Bringing Exhausted Soils Back to Life 115 
Chapter XV. — Cotton Unique : A Self-Supporting Crop . 120 
Chapter XVI. — Buying Fertility for the Soil . .126 

Chapter XVII. — Farm-Made Manures: SavingFertility 

for the Soil . . . . . .134 

Chapter XVIII. — Home-Mixing of Fertilizers: Saving 

the Manufacturer's Profit . . . .139 

Chapter XIX. — The Cotton Farmer's Equipment of Tools 147 
Chapter XX. — Culture From Seed to Boll . .153 

Chapter XXL— The Ills That Cotton Is Heir To .165 

Chapter XXII. — Insect Enemies of the Cotton Plant . 175 
Chapter XXIII. — Harvest Time in the Cotton Field . 194 

Chapter XXIV. — What Does It Cost to Make Cotton ? . 200 



SECTION III.— MARKETING AND PRICES 

Chapter XXV. — Preparing for Marketing: The Work of 

the Gin . . . . . .215 

Chapter XXVI. — Marketing : The Trip to the Spindle . 224 
Chapter XXVII. — The Unceasing Contest Between Bulls 

and Bears ...... 234 

Chapter XXVIII. — Statistics: How the World Watches 

While the Plant Grows .... 249 

Chapter XXIX. — Prices : The Puzzling Problem of Cotton 

Values ...... 260 



COlSiTE^^TS— Continued ix 

PAGK 

SECTION IV.— MANUFACTURES AND BY- 
PRODUCTS 

Chapter XXX. — Cottonseed: Once an Outcast; Now a 

Prince ...... 275 

Chapter XXXI.— Cotton Oil: The King Feeds as Well as 

Clothes His Subjects .... 282 

Chapter XXXII. — Meal and Hulls: King Cotton Also 

Feeds Our Flocks and Herds • . . 290 

Chapter XXXIII. — The Rise of Cotton Manufacturing . 301 
Chapter XXXIV. — The Cotton Factory in the Southern 

States . . . . . .311 

Chapter XXXV. — The Making of Cotton Goods . 319 

Chapter XXXVI. — Conclusion — The Epic of Cotton 

That is Yet to be Written . . . 330 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Picking Scene 



(Mr. 



Dooley) 



A Monarch that Brooks no Rivals 

Part of Our $410,000,000 in Cotton Export Values 

Production of Cotton 1850 to 1900 . 

Cotton Statistics . . 

Production of Cotton 1900 (by States) 

Breaking Land for Egyptian Cotton . 

How The Negro Tenants Live . 

Negro Pickers at Work and at Home . 

Cotton Picking in the Lowlands . 

"Light-hearted, good-natured and aisily lynched.' 

Cotton Bolls, Fibres Other than Cotton . 

The Mechanical Cotton Picker . 

Soft and Compressed Bales : Gathering Samples 

More Cotton Statistics .... 

Southern Views ..... 

More Scenes from Dixie .... 

The Cotton Association is a Factor to be Reckoned with 

Holding for Better Prices .... 

Varieties of Cotton ..... 

Varieties of Cotton ..... 

Varieties of Cotton .... 

Economical and Expensive Cotton-making . 

Improvement of Cotton .... 

Where Cotton Grows Best .... 

Getting Fertilizer from the Air . 

Cultivating the Crop . , . , 

The Rescue of Old Lands .... 

Old-fashioned Methods Not Yet Forgotten . 

Diagram Showing Relative Quantities of Nitrogen, Potash and 
Phosphoric Acid Required for the Production of an Average 
Yield (per Acre) of Corn, Wheat, etc.; Crimson Clover; Cotton- 
Cultivation in its Final Stage ..,.., 



Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

16 



17 
22 
23 
34 
35 
38 
39 
50 
51 
56 
57 
64/ 
65 
72' 
73 
80 
81 
90 
91 
94^ 
95 
100 
101 
116- 
117 
122 
123 



126 



ILLUSTRATIONS— ConimwcfZ 



FACING PAGE 

127 
134 



Two Ways of Fertilizing .... 
Soils and Their Improvement .... 
Comparative Quantities of Plant Food in Different Fertilizing 
Ingredients ....... 

Modern Cotton Making 

"How much does it weigh?" .... 

Young Plants Just After Germination . 

As Destructive as an Invading Army — The Boll Weevil 

Starting the Crop ...... 

»The Alpha and Omega of Cotton Making . 
The Boll Weevil's Conquest of Texas . 
Before the Cotton Factory Came .... 

Transformations of Cotton Bollworm (Heliothis armiger 

Hiibn) Double page . . 
White for the Harvest ...... 

Making Cotton Without Hand Chopping . 
Ginning and Baling the Cotton ... 
Hope and Realization ..... 

Waiting Turns at the Gin ..... 

A liOok on the Inside ...... 

Cotton after Baling ...... 

" How Much Do I Git at Fifty Saints a Hund'ed?" 

Stages of Cotton Picking ..... 

Nerve Centres of Cotton Finance .... 

Interior of New York Cotton Exchange. 

Condition of the Cotton Crop .... 

The Ebb and Flow of Cotton Prices . 

In and About a Cotton Factory ... 

Cottonseed, the Finest Cattle Food 

Cotton Seed Huller ...... 

InteriorView of Cotton Mill . . ... 

Cotton Manufacturing in the South . 

Manufacturing : Fancy Dobby Loom 

Cotton Fabrics. ...... 



188- 



135 
146 
147 
164 
165 
180 
181 
188 
189 

189 
200 
201 
208 
209 



230 
231 
242 
243 
244 
245 
260 
261 
276 
277 
312 
313 
320 
821 



INTRODUCTION: 
HAIL, THE KING! 



INTRODUCTION: HAIL, THE KING! 

"Cotton — what a royal plant it is I" Henry- 
Grady once exclaimed: "The world waits in at- 
tendance on its growth; the shower that falls whis- 
pering on its leaves is heard around the earth; the 
sun that shines on it is tempered by the prayers of 
all the people; the frost that chills it and the dew 
that descends from the stars are noted, and the tres- 
pass of a little worm upon its green leaf is more to 
England than the advance of the Russian army on 
her Asian outposts. It is gold from the instant it 
puts forth its tiny shoot. Its fibre is current in 
every bank and when, loosing its fleeces to the sun, 
it floats a sunny banner that glorifies the fields of 
the humble farmer, that man is marshaled under a 
flag that will compel the allegiance of the world and 
wring a subsidy from every nation on earth." 

THE ONE CROP FOR WHICH NATURE HAS NO 
SUBSTITUTE 

And in this flight of eloquence the Georgia ora- 
tor did not overestimate the importance of the 
South's great staple crop. We do not exaggerate 
when we claim that no other plant in all the vege- 
table kingdom is of so much importance to the hu- 
man race. Destroy any fruit plant in the world, 
and men would grow other fruits. Let any lumber 

(3) 



4 COTTON 

tree become extinct to-morrow, and other trees 
will take its place and our building go on as before. 
Even if corn or wheat or rice should perish from 
the earth, we could grow enough of the other crop, 
supplemented by rice, oats, barley, rye, peas, 
beans, etc., to feed both man and beast with com- 
fort. But there is no substitute for cotton that can 
be cultivated on a large scale; no substitute, animal 
or vegetable product, with which civilization's pres- 
ent demand for clothing could be suppHed. 

Nor is there any plant with a history more mar- 
velous or more romantic — more suggestive of the 
legend and mythology of its Oriental home where 
it first began to serve mankind. If Frank Norris 
had hved in the South instead of California, what 
an Epic of the Cotton he might have given us — 
what a story of Cotton, responding only to the 
warmth of a Southern sun, and yielding a richer 
fleece than ever Jason dreamed of; Cotton, whose 
influence did most to bring us an alien race from 
Africa, and then did most to perpetuate in Ameri- 
ca the institution of human slavery; Cotton, on 
which a "Dixie Land, the Land of Cotton," once 
built its hopes while it waged one of the greatest 
wars of modern times; Cotton, which helped the 
vanquished people to their feet again, and now 
bids fair to restore them to a proud position in 
wealth and industry! 

THE BASIS OF THE WORLD^S DOMINANT INDUSTRY 

It is probably not too much to say that cotton is 
now the basis of the donltnant industry of the 
globe. In their primary forms the iron and steel 
products of the world represent a value of only 



COTTON 5 

$1,700,000,000 yearly, while the estimated value 
of the world's annual output of cotton goods is 
$2,000,000,000. On cotton most of the human race 
depends for clothing — three times as much cotton 
as wool being produced, and the world's 
wool production having decreased from 2,750,000 
bales in 1895 to 1,750,000 in 1905, while in the 
same period the world's cotton supply has grown 
from 10,304,000 bales to 17,782,000 bales. And 
of this enormous cotton supply three-fourths is 
grown in the Southern section of the United 
States. Twice the world's total gold output last 
year would have been required to pay Southern 
farmers for lint and seed; three-fourths of the 
capital stock of all the National Banks in the 
country would have been inadequate. 

COTTON EXPORTS EXCEED IN VALUE ALL OTHEE 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS 

Among our American export crops cotton is a 
monarch that brooks no rivals. According to a 
signed statement furnished the writer by Mr. O. 
P. Austin, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, De- 
partment of Commerce and Labor, January 23, 
1906, the total value of our exports of cottonseed 
and cottonseed products for the year ending June 
30, 1905 (raw cotton alone $381,000,000), was 
$410,657,752 as against $410,205,653 for "all 
other agricultural exports." In other words, take 
all other animal and vegetable products exported 
any year — wheat, corn, barley, oats, rye, flour, 
meal, oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, liquors, tobacco, 
wine, cattle, hogs, horses, sheep, beef, pork, mut- 
ton, butter, cheese, canned goods, lard, oils, wool, 



6 COTTON 

hides, skins, etc., etc., — the entire contribution, ex- 
cept cotton, furnished the outside world by every 
American farm, ranch, dairy, fruit farm and gar- 
den, from Maine to Cahfornia, from Michigan to 
Texas, from Alaska to Hawaii, including the 
South's own not unimportant share — take all this, 
and with the proceeds of one year's cotton and cot- 
tonseed exports, the Southern cotton-grower can 
buy the whole colossal aggregation, still have a 
surplus of several hundred thousand left as pin 
money, and be ready to start business again with 
the more than $200,000,000 he gets annually for 
supplying the 25,000,000 spindles of our o^vn 
country. 

"If Europe during the past five years," says 
Mr. R. H. Edmonds, "had gathered together every 
dollar's worth of gold produced in all the mines of 
the earth and shipped it to the South, it would still 
have fallen $206,000,000 short of paying for that 
part of the cotton crop the South has sent beyond 
the seas." 

COTTON BOTH CLOTHES AND FEEDS MANKIND 

In many ways cotton stands out unique among 
all the plants that men grow. Not only is it the 
only crop which has greatly changed the destinies 
of nations and continents (but for cotton, slav- 
ery would not have so flourished in the South as to 
plunge America into a great civil war), but it is 
unique in that it contributes to a greater variety of 
human needs than any other plant that Providence 
has placed upon the earth. From pole to pole, in 
every zone and clime ; from the cradle to the grave, 
in every stage of life; from prince to pauper, 



COTTON 7 

among all sorts and conditions of men, it is of 
course the chief material used for clothing, but 
every year more and more of its products are 
brought to our tables, and it is called upon to feed 
a steadily increasing number of our flocks and 
herds. 

You get up in the morning from a bed clothed 
in cotton; you step out on a cotton rug; you let in 
the light by raising a cotton window-shade; you 
wash with soap made partly from cottonseed oil 
products ; you dry your face on a cotton towel ; you 
array yourself chiefly in cotton clothing; the "silk" 
in which your wife dresses is probably mercerized 
cotton ; at the breakfast table you do not get away 
from King Cotton; cottolene has probably taken 
the place of lard in the biscuit you eat ; the beef and 
the mutton were probably fattened on cottonseed 
meal and hulls; your "imported olive oil" is more 
likely from a Texas cotton farm than from an Ital- 
ian villa; your "butter" is probably a product of 
Southern cottonseed; the coal that burns in the fire 
may have been mined by the light of a cotton-oil 
lamp; the sheep from which your woolen clothing 
came were probably fed on cottonseed; the tonic 
you take may contain an extract of cotton 
root-bark; the tobacco you smoke not unlikely 
grew under a cotton cover and is put up in a cotton 
bag; your morning daily may be printed on cot- 
ton waste paper — and even in that Oriental skir- 
mish it tells about the contending forces were 
clothed in khaki duck, slept under cotton tents, cot- 
ton was an essential in the high explosives which 
were used, and when at last war had done its worst, 
surgery itself called cotton into requisition to aid 
the injured and dying. 



8 COTTON 

THE HANDMAIDEN OF CIVILIZATION 

Cotton, furthermore, is also unique in that more 
largely than any other plant it contributes to the 
higher wants of man and more justly than any other 
plant may be termed the Handmaiden of Civiliza- 
tion. For while the lowest classes of men (and ani- 
mals) demand food, the demand for clothing and 
ornament is a mark of civiUzation. Even as far 
back as Eden itself, the desire for clothing was the 
first evidence of knowledge and conscience given by 
the first man and woman placed on earth. And with 
all races of mankind since, the progress of enlighten- 
ment has been largely registered by the advances in 
clothing. "Society is founded upon Cloth," was the 
doctrine of Carlyle's Teuf elsdrockh ; and he was 
not far wrong in declaring that "Man's earthly in- 
terests are all hooked and buttoned together, and 
held up, by Clothes. . . . Society sails through 
the Infinitude on Cloth, as on a Faust's Mantle, or 
rather like the Sheet of clean and unclean beasts in 
the Apostle's Dream; and without such Sheet or 
JMantle, would sink to endless depths or mount to 
inane limboes, and in either case be no more.'* 

Of so much importance, then, is the crop we are 
to consider in this volume; the only one of the 
great staples for which no satisfactory substitute 
can be found ; the only plant in the world that in a 
large measure both feeds and clothes mankind; the 
one plant most worthy of being reckoned the aid 
and ally of Civilization. 

Small wonder that more than two generations of 
men have called it King Cotton, and that its realm 
is as wide as the earth! Or as certain of our own 
bards has said : 



COTTOI^ 

"Where sleeps the poet who shall fitly sing 
The source wherefrom doth spring 
That mighty commerce which, confined 
To the mean channels of no selfish mart. 
Goes out to every shore 

Of this broad earth, and throngs the sea with shipg 
That bear no thunders; hushes hungry lips 

In alien lands; 

Joins with a delicate web remotest strands; 

And gladdening rich and poor. 

Doth gild Parisian domes. 

Or feed the cottage smoke of English homes, 

And only bounds its blessings by mankind I" 



A-(-u^ ^ ^ 



SECTION I. 

KING COTTON: HIS REALM 
AND HIS SUBJECTS 



CHAPTER I. 

THE HISTOEY OF COTTON: FROM ANCIENT INDIA TO 
OUR OWN TIME 

We have no desire whatever to inflict upon the 
long-suffering reader any exhaustive review of the 
uninteresting remarks on cotton which pedantic 
scholars have picked up here and there in ancient 
literature. In fact, the only unpleasant task con- 
nected with the writing of this volume has been the 
enforced reading of several chapters of such mat- 
ter. Be patient then, gentle reader; we shall not 
prolong the agony. 

To find the first use of cotton by our race, we 
shall have to take the road to Mandalay and go 
back to a time five centuries before the birth of 
Christ — back to the dim past in the land of Buddha 
and Brahma? — and Kim; back to the scene of the 
great Mahabharata, and the other legendary 
glories of the dreamy Orient. Before the world 
had known the sway of a Caesar, long even before 
the age of Pericles, the old Hindoo law declared 
that "the sacrificial thread of the Brahman must be 
made of cotton," and as punishment for theft of 
cotton thread directed a fine three times the value of 
the article stolen. 

(13) 



14 COTTON 

CHINESE AND INDIAN CULTURE OF COTTON 

Herodotus tells us that "the thorax or cuirass 
sent by Amasis, King of Egypt, to Sparta" in 550 
B. C, was "adorned with gold and the fleeces from 
trees" — and he goes on to explain that in India are 
trees "the fruit of which is a wool exceeding in 
beauty and goodness that of a sheep." A crude sys- 
tem of hand-spinning, weaving and dyeing was 
early worked out by the Hindoos more than two 
thousand years ago — and singularly enough, in all 
of the centuries that followed this, intelligent peo- 
ple added practically no improvement to the cotton 
machinery the elders then planned. What Herod- 
otus reported as to equipment was practically the 
same as that which Marco Polo found, and there 
was no change from the time of Marco Polo to that 
of Arkwright. 

Across the Himalayan "Palace of the Snow," 
from the Hindoos is China; and it was not a great 
while after India began to use cotton before the 
Chinese put it into their gardens and sang of it in 
their poems — evidently treating it, however, as a 
rare and beautiful, rather than as a useful, plant ; so 
that even in the sixth century after Christ it was a 
matter of marvel and record with the scribes of that 
day that the Emperor Outi had a rare robe made of 
cotton ; and it was five hundred years later — in the 
days of Kubla Khan — before the manufacture of 
cotton among the Celestials became at all extensive. 
Since that time, however, cotton has been largely 
used for clothing the "heathen Chinee," and he has 
not only used his own product for this purpose, but 
has imported liberally from India and the Burmese 
provinces. 



COTTON 15 

USE IN EGYPT AND INTRODUCTION INTO EUEOPE BY 
THE MOORS 

As to the culture and use of cotton by the ancient 
Egyptians, there are differences of opinion among 
the doctors ; but the weight of evidence indicates its 
use to a hmited extent. 

Into Europe the cotton plant was brought a thou- 
sand years ago, the Moors having introduced its cul- 
ture in Spain "when the caliphate of Cordova was 
at the height of its power and magnificence." But 
the Spanish Christians looked with such disfavor on 
everything having to do with the Moors, or gave 
so little attention to it, that it was long before cot- 
ton found favor in the eyes of the Pope's subjects. 
In the fourteenth century it was at last given a 
chance to rejoice beneath the simny Italian skies, 
and from there its culture spread to France and 
Greece. 

FOUND IN THE NEW WORLD 

In the New World cotton has been grown and 
used from the dateless past — certainly in clothing 
Peruvian mummies which had slept the sleep of 
death for centuries even before Pizarro came to 
disturb the dreams of the Incas; and among the 
treasures which Cortez wrested from the Mexican 
Montezuma and sent to Charles V. w^ere "exquisite 
cotton fabrics dyed in various colors." In the West 
Indies especially cotton has ahvays flourished. 

"In a word," says Mr. R. B. Handy, "everywhere 
between the parallels of 40° north latitude and 40° 
south latitude, with the exception of our 
present American 'Cotton Belt,' cotton, either in 



16 COTTON 

its wild or cultivated state, was known and used at 
the date of the settlement of America." 

EARLY INDIAN WEAVING 

So much for the history of cotton production. 
As for its manufacture, we have already seen that 
the crude Indian plan of spinning and weaving 
was invented before the Christian Era; and this 
system followed the culture of cotton as it spread 
through Europe and Asia. So crude is the Indian 
equipment — a distaff for spinning and a loom com- 
posed of "a few sticks or reeds which the Indian 
carries about with him" — that the total value is 
only a few shillings. It is thought Hkely that the 
Flemings learned the art of using cotton from the 
Turkish crusaders, and that cotton manufacture 
was introduced into England in the fifteenth cen- 
tury by artisans who fled from Flanders. And be- 
fore leaving the subject of Indian weaving, it ought 
to be said that so wonderful is the skill of the Hin- 
doo that our finest machinery does not make goods 
equal to that which he produced with his primitive 
equipment. So fine and gossamer-like were the 
muslins of Dacca that they were called "webs of 
woven wind." Tavernier, writing in 1660, says of 
some Indian fabric, that "when a man puts it on, 
his skin appears as plainly through it as if he was 
quite naked ; but the merchants are not permitted to 
transport it, for the Governor is obliged to send it 
all to the Great Mogul's seraglio, who use it to make 
the sultanesses' and the noblemen's wives' shifts and 
garments for the hot weather, and the King and 
the lords take great pleasure in beholding them in 
these shifts." 




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A MONARCH THAT BROOKS NO RIVALS. 

Our cotton exports exceed in value all other exports combined — the total value 
of all other products from every American farm, ranch, dairy, fruit farm, stock farm, 
and garden, North, South, East and West. 




I'AKI OF ULR .15410,000,000 IN COTTON EXPORT VALUES 

An ocean steamer taking on three bales of compressed cotton for export to 
English mills. 



COTTON 17 

THE BEGINNING OF ENGLAND^S GREATEST INDUSTRY 

Our English ancestors, late in taking up the man- 
ufacture of cotton, even after beginning it allowed 
the industry to grow slowly. Spinning was done on 
the distaff, or at best on the one-thread spinning- 
wheel; and for weaving the hand-loom had known 
but little improvement since the days of the Caes- 
ars. Nor was there any kind of co-operation, 
any division of labor; each individual family at- 
tempted to carry on the entire process of spinning 
and weaving the cloth. 

But about 1760 we see the beginnings of a revolu- 
tion. The Manchester merchants then began to 
furnish cotton and linen yarn to weavers, paying 
a fixed price for spinning and weaving the product 
— and so the industry, hitherto primitive and cha- 
otic, began for the first time to take shape as a defin- 
ite, well-planned organization. 

Very soon after this the export of English goods 
began on a small scale, and with surprisingly satis- 
factory results from the very beginning. Prices 
were high, and the call for larger supplies insistent. 
But as the demand grew, the English spinner grew 
in desperation. Here was a world outside demand- 
ing that England clothe it; and yet, for two seem- 
ingly inexorable reasons, England could not. 

In the first place, while she could get yarn enough 
for the warp of the goods, she could not get enough 
cotton for the weft. 

And even if she could get cotton enough, she 
could not find labor enough to spin it. Doing her 
best with her one-thread wheel, she was spinning 
only as much as 50,000 of our modern spindles now 
turn out. 



18 COTTON 

But these problems hardly began to be urgent be- 
fore they were solved. Hargreaves, Arkwright, 
Watt, Cartwright and others with their now fam- 
ous invention^, showed how to make one man's 
labor yield more than that of ten men had done 
before — and succeeded, even if the mad mob did 
scour the country in search of the new machines 
they believed would take the bread from the mouths 
of the laborers. 

AMERICA BEGINS TO SUPPLY ENGLAND'S WANTS 

And just as the English spinners learned how 
to spin and weave cotton fast enough, just then 
America answered her question as to where she 
could get the raw material. 

Cotton, on a small scale, was grown in America 
from the time of the earliest settlements. In 1621 
the first planting was made in Virginia. The first 
permanent settlers in North Carolina in 1664 grew 
cotton as one of their principal crops, and forty 
years later cotton furnished one-fifth of the cloth- 
ing used by the people of the State. South Carolina 
began cotton culture in 1766, and Georgia early in 
the eighteenth century. 

"Barrels of cotton" and "bags of cotton" soon 
began to be mentioned as articles of export to Eng- 
land, and in 1751 it appears that one Henry Han- 
sen shipped "in good order and well conditioned, 
in and upon the good scow called the Mary, where- 
of is master under God, for this present voyage, 
Barnaby Badgars, and now riding in the harbour 
of New York, and by God's grace bound for Lon- 
don — to say, eighteen bales of cotton wool, being 
marked and numbered," etc. In 1786 Liverpool 



COTTON 19 

imported 800 pounds of American cotton, in 1787, 
16,350 pounds, in 1788, 58,500 pounds, and in 
1792, 138,328 pounds. 

By this time it was America rather than England 
which was wrestling* with a problem — and our prob- 
lem was how to separate the seed from the lint in 
quantities sufficient to supply the British demand. 
Eli Whitney solved it — just how and when we shall 
consider at greater length in a subsequent chapter. 

It is enough here to say that the year Whitney 
invented the cotton gin the South grew the equiva- 
lent of 10,000 400-pound bales; a himdred years 
later we grew 10,000,000 400-pound bales. 



CHAPTER II. 

ACREAGE AND PRODUCTION: WHERE THE WORLD 's 
SUPPLY IS GROWN 

Of the 17,782,440 bales making up the 1904-5 
cotton crop of the world, it is estimated that the 
United States grew 13,420,440 bales, the East In- 
dies 2,960,000, Egypt 1,187,000, Brazil, etc., 215,- 
000. 

In India, the oldest of cotton-producing coun- 
tries, the total yield of late years has been de- 
creasing. In 1893-94 India grew 2,993,000 bales 
(she had grown more than 3,000,000 three years 
before) and in 1903-4 she produced only 2,634,400 
bales. The soil of India is well adapted to cotton 
growing, but the climate is largely unfavorable — 
too wet in some places, too dry in others — and the 
average yield per acre is hardly more than half 
the average American yield. 

EGYPTIAN AND INDIAN PRODUCTION 

The abnormal demand for cotton during the Civil 
War stimulated Indian production, but "when the 
final result of the contest between America and 
India became apparent, America had gained com- 
mand of the market, and India was considered only 
as a supplementary source of supply, resorted to 
mainly in the event of a short crop in the West." 

(20) 



COTTON 21 

But if India's interest in cotton growing seems to 
be waning, Egypt is even more surely awakening 
to her advantages as a cotton-producing country. 
In 1894-95 the land of the Pharaohs produced only 
650,000 bales; in 1904-5 1,187,000 bales. Much 
of this increase is undoubtedly due to the great 
irrigation improvements of which the world has 
heard so much; but even without these the same 
steady growth which has marked the course of 
Egyptian cotton farming since its beginning 
would doubtless have been maintained. Egypt is 
the only country whose cotton trade did not decline 
when the South after Lee's surrender resumed her 
old place as the home of the fleecy staple. Maho 
Bey, aided by a Frenchman named Jumel, turned 
the attention of Egj^pt to cotton farming in 1820 
— whence the name "Maho" and "Jumel" for 
Egyptian cotton — and she has taken no backward 
step in the 80 years since she began by sending 
5,323 bales to Liverpool. 

THREE-FOURTHS OF WORLD's SUPPLY GROWN IIST 
THE SOUTH 

After all, however, the world gives little thought 
to India or Egypt or Brazil or Russia, when it 
comes to reckon on the next year's cotton supply. 
For more than three-fourths of this supply it must 
look to twelve American States and Territories, in 
ten of which it is the chief farm product. We have 
already seen that half our agricultural export val- 
ues is in cotton. On more than 1,000,000 American 
farms cotton is the principal source of income. 
Every foot of the surface of seven of our smaller 
States — land and water, hill and dale, field and 



22 COTTON 

forest, marsh and barren — might be planted to cot- 
ton without equalling the area which the South an- 
nually plants to this favorite farm staple. And all 
this is in the face of the fact that cotton, more 
largely than any other American crop, is dependent 
upon hand labor. The increased cost by reason of 
this fact, however, naturally leads to correspond- 
ingly greater profits, so that in 1899 24,000,000 
acres planted to cotton (and at prices very much 
lower than now obtain) produced $323,000,000 
in values, while the wheat crop from more than 
twice this area was worth only $369,000,000, and 
the value of the corn crop from about four times 
the cotton acreage was only $828,000,000. 



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WORLD S PRODUCTION OF COTTON. 



Countries. 


1904-05. 
Bales. 


1903-04. 
Bales. 


1902-03. 
Bales. 


1901-02. 
Bales. 


United States 


13,420,440 

3,960,000 

1,187,000 

215,000 


9,841,671 

2,634,400 

1,275,754 

307,516 


10,511,020 

2,737,577 

1,148,700 

329,890 


10,380,380 

2,475,2.30 

1,292,443 

265,896 


East Indies * 


Egypt 


Brazil, etct 






Total 


17,782,440 
15,506,225 


14,059,341 
14.010,428 


14,746,687 
14,436,589 


14,413,949 
14,414,908 










2,776,185 

3,011,079 
5,287,264 


48,913 

2,962,166 
3,011,079 


290,098 

2,672,068 
2,962,166 


a959 


Visible and invisible stock : 

September 1 beginning year 

September 1 ending year 


2,673,037 
2,672,068 



* Includes India's exports to Europe, America and Japan, and mill consumption in 
India increased or decreased by excess or loss of stock at Bombay. 

+ Receipts into Europe from Brazil, Smyrna, Peru, West Indies, etc., and Japan 
and China cotton used in Japanese mills. 

a Deficiency in the year's new supply. 

The above statement indicates in compact form the year's supply of 
cotton (not including Russia) in each of the four years, the amount con- 
sumed, and also the extent to which visible and invisible stocks were 
increased or diminished. 



COMMERCIAL CROP BY STATES. 






1904-05 
Bales 


1903-04 
Bales 


1902-03 
Bales 


1901-02 
Bales 


Alabama 

Arkansas 

Florida 


1,470,000 

905,000 

89,000 

1,975,000 

1,100,000 

1,777,000 

775,000 

1,200,000 

691,000 

3,584,000 


1,000,000 

705,000 

55,000 

1,325,000 
824,000 

1,387,000 
563,000 
825,000 
451,000 

2,876,000 


1,050,000 

1,000,000 
55,000 

1,470,000 
884,000 

1,404,000 
575,000 
950,000 
509,000 

2,831,000 


1,200,000 

820,000 

54,000 


Georgia 


1,525,000 


Louisiana 

Mississippi 

N. Carolina, etc. . 
South Carolina. . 
Tennessee, etc. . . 
Tex. & Indian Ter 


880,000 
1,375,000 
550,000 
925,000 
359,000 
2,993,000 


Total crop, bales 


13,566,000 


10,011,000 


10,728,000. 


10,681,000 



COTTON STATISTICS. 

(Courtesy of Latham, Alexander & Co. ) 



COTTON 



23 



STATISTICS WHICH SHOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
COTTON GROWING 

I do not know that in any way we can get the 
subject more clearly before the reader than to give 
herewith the statistics of production by years for 
seventy years past, and the acreage and average 
yield by years since 1888: 

ACREAGE AND YIELD SINCE 1888 









Net 




Net 


Bales 


Season 


Acres Planted 


Crop Pounds Net 


Pounds 
per 
Acre 


Bales in Crop 


Weight 
per 
Bale 


Per 
Acre 


1888-89 


19,362,073 


3,260,996,300 


168 


6,938,290 


470 


86 


1889-90 


20,171,896 


3,472,861,786 


172 


7,311,322 


471 


36 


1890-91 


20,809,053 


4,092,678,381 


196 


8,652,597 


473 


41 


1891-92 


20,714,937 


4,273,734,267 


206 


9,035,379 


473 


43 


1892-93 


18,067,924 


3,182,673,375 


176 


6,700,365 


475 


37 


1893-94 


19,684,000 


3,578,613,258 


182 


7,549,817 


474 


38 


1894-95 


21,454,000 


4,792,205,484 


223 


9,901,251 


484 


46 


1895-96 


18,882,000 


3,414,054,042 


181 


7,157,346 


477 


38 


1896-97 


22,341,000 


4,177,548,828 


187 


8,757,964 


477 


39 


1897-98 


24,071,000 


5,398,397,108 


224 


11,199,994 


482 


47 


1898-99 


23,572,000 


5,513,396,760 


232 


11,274,840 


489 


48 


1899-00 


22,583,055 


4,757,062,942 


210 


9,436,416 


479 


44 


1900-01 


25,558,000 


4,958,252,000 


198 


10,383,422 


485 


41 


1901-02 


27,532,000 


5,176,016,000 


188 


10,680,680 


483 


39 


1902-03 


27,450,000 


5,188,050,000 


189 


10,727,559 


483 


39 


1903-04 


28,907,000 


4,885,283,000 


169 


10,011,374 


483 


35 


1904-05 


31,730,371 


6,695,108,281 


211 


13,565,885 


491 


43 



24 



COTTON 



CROP, EXFORTS AND PRICES FOR SEVENTY YEARS 









1 






Crop 


United Statea 
Consmnption 


Exports 


Av. price 
lb. middlii 
uplands in 
York 


Years 


Bale.s 


Bales 


Bales 


Cents 


1832-33 


1,070,438 


194,412 


867,000 


12.32 


1833-34 


1,205,394 


196,413 


1,028,000 


12.90 


1834-35 


1,254,328 


216,888 


1,023,500 


17.45 


1835-36 


1,360,725 


236,733 


1,116,000 


16.50 


1836-37 


1,423,930 


222,540 


1,169,000 


13.25 


1837-38 


1,801,497 


246,063 


1,575,000 


10.14 


1838-39 


1,360,532 


276,018 


1,074,000 


13.36 


1839-40 


2,177,835 


295,193 


1,876.000 


8.92 


1840-41 


1,634,954 


267,850 


1,313,500 


9.50 


1841-42 


1,083,574 


267,850 


1,465,500 


7.85 


1842-43 


2,378,875 


325,129 


2,010,000 


7.25 


1843-44 


2,030,409 


346,750 


1,629,500 


7.73 


1844-45 


2,394,503 


389,000 


2,083,700 


5.63 


1845^6 


2,100,537 


422,600 


1,666,700 


7.87 


1846-47 


1,778,651 


428,000 


1,241,200 


11.21 


1847-48 


2,439,786 


616,044 


1,858,000 


8.03 


1848-49 


2,866,938 


642,485 


2,228,000 


7.55 


1849-50 


2,233,718 


613,498 


1,590,200 


12.34 


1850-51 


2,454,442 


485,614 


1,988,710 


12.14 


1851-52 


3,126,310 


689,603 


2,443,646 


9.50 


1852-53 


3,416,214 


803,725 


2,528,400 


11.02 


1853-54 


3,074,979 


737,236 


2,319,148 


10.97 


1854-55 


2,982,634 


706,417 


2,244,209 


10.39 


1855-56 


3,005,557 


777,739 


2,954.600 


10.30 


1856-57 


3,093,737 


819,936 


2,252,657 


13.51 


1857-58 


3,257,339 


595,562 


2,590,455 


12.23 


1858-59 


4,018,914 


927,651 


3,021,403 


12.08 


1859-60 


4,861,292 


978,043 


3,774,173 


11. 


1860-61 


3,849,469 


843,740 


3,127,568 


13.01 


1861-62 1 








' 31.29 
, 67.21 
] 101.50 


1862-63 1 
1863-64 f 
1864-65 J 




. . . War period . . . 
















t 83.38 


1865-66 


2,269,316 


666,100 


1,554,664 


43.20 


1866-67 


2,097,254 


770,030 


1,557,054 


31.59 


1867-68 


2,519,554 


900,636 


1,655.816 


24.85 


1868-69 


2,366,467 


926,374 


1,465,880 


29.01 


1869-70 


3,122,551 


865,160 


2,206,480 


23.98 


1870-71 


4,352,317 


1,110,196 


3,169,009 


16.95 


1871-72 


2.974,351 


1,237,330 


1,957,314 


20.48 



COTTON 



25 



CROP, EXPORTS AND PRICES FOR SEVENTY YEARS 

{Continued) 











- 1 




Crop 


United States 
Consumption 


Exports 


Av. price 
lb. middiii 
uplands in 
York 


Year 


Bales 


Bales 


Bales 


Cents 


1872-73 


3,930,508 


1,201,127 


2,679,986 


18.15 


1873-74 


4,170,388 


1,305,943 


2,840,981 


17. 


1874-75 


3,832,991 


1,193,005 


2,684,708 


15. 


1875-76 


4,632,313 


1,351,870 


3,234,244 


13. 


1876-77 


4,474,069 


1,428,013 


3,030,835 


11.73 


1877-78 


4,773,865 


1,489,022 


3,360,254 


11.28 


1878-79 


5,074,155 


1,558,329 


3,481,004 


10.83 


1879-80 


5,761,252 


1,789,978 


3,885,003 


12.02 


1880-81 


6,605,750 


1,938,937 


4,589,346 


11.34 


1881-82 


5,456,048 


1,964,535 


3,582,622 


12.16 


1882-83 


6,949,756 


2,073,096 


4,766,597 


10.63 


1883-84 


5,713,200 


1,876,683 


3,916,581 


10.64 


1884-85 


5,706,165 


1,753,125 


3,947,972 


10.54 


1885-86 


6,575,691 


2,162,544 


4,336,203 


9.44 


1886-87 


6,505,087 


2,111,532 


4,445,302 


10.25 


1887-88 


7,046,833 


2,257,247 


4,627,502 


10.27 


1888-89 


6,938,290 


2,314,091 


4,854,573 


10.71 


1889-90 


7,311,322 


2,390,959 


4,996,543 


11.53 


1890-91 


8,652,597 


2,632,023 


5,783,101 


9.03 


1891-92 


9,035,379 


2,876,846 


5,868,545 


7.64 


1892-93 


6,700,365 


2,431,134 


4,410,524 


8.24 


1893-94 


7,549,817 


2,319,688 


5,360,318 


7.67 


1894-95 


9,901,251 


2,946,677 


6,926,025 


6.50 


1895-96 


7,157,346 


2,504,972 


4,751,384 


8.16 


1896-97 


8,757,964 


2,847,351 


6,088,521 


7.72 


1897-98 


11,199,994 


3,443,581 


7,674,065 


6.22 


1898-99 


11,274,840 


3,589,494 


7,452,116 


6. 


1899-00 


9,436,416 


3,665,412 


6,055,874 


8.69 


1900-01 


10,383,422 


3,588,501 


6,639,931 


8.96 


1901-02 


10,680,680 


3,988,501 


6,715,793 


8.75 


1902-03 


10,727,559 


4,161,374 


6,766,378 


10.27 


1903-04 


10,011,374 


3,946,219 


6,109,755 


12.42 


1904-05 


13,565,885 


4,445,650 


8,767,180 


9.11 



26 COTTON 

THE LIMITS OF PROFITABLE COTTON PEODUCTION 
IN THE SOUTH 

Stretch a line from Norfolk to Memphis, Lit- 
tle Rock and Dallas, and you have the Cotton Belt 
fairly outlined — though cotton has been grown to 
some extent north of this line. It was first culti- 
vated in Virginia. One hundred and twenty years 
ago it was found on farms in parts of Delaware. 
"At the time of the Revolution the home-grown cot- 
ton was sufficiently abundant in Pennsylvania to 
supply the domestic needs of the State." Three 
Maryland counties grew the crop largely up to 
eighty years ago. In Civil War times Nevada and 
Illinois also figured in cotton production. 

Of late years, however, the production of cotton 
in all States beyond the borders of the old Southern 
Confederacy has steadily diminished. Kentucky, 
Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia each showed a 
declining yield for the last census decade as com- 
pared with the preceding decade. 

For fifty years now the median point of pro- 
duction has been within a radius of about 75 miles 
from Jackson, Mississippi, — in the earlier period 
northeast of Jackson, but in the last twenty years 
carried northwest by the increase of the Texas 
crop and the opening up of new lands in Oklahoma 
and Indian Territory. The cotton section west of 
the Mississippi grew 34 per cent, of the crop in 
1879, 38 per cent, in 1889, and 43 per cent, in 1899. 
The next census will probably show the center of 
production as having for the first time crossed be- 
yond the Father of Waters. 



CHAPTER III. 

DOES FOREIGN COMPETITION THREATEN THE SOUTH's 
SUPREMACY? 

The figures we have already quoted and the ta- 
bles of statistics we have given leave so httle to be 
said about the subject of acreage and production 
in the South that we now proceed directly to the 
inquiry which is doubtless uppermost in the minds 
of most of our readers : 

Is the South likely to maintain its present su- 
premacy as the world's chief source of raw cotton? 

For it is really the South against the field, and 
all the countries that now make cotton on a small 
scale are interesting in this respect only as we re- 
gard them as a combination which might eventually 
rob America of its prestige. 

England's efforts to become independent of 
slave-made cotton 

It is not a new subject. Before us now is a bulky, 
time-worn volume, bearing on its title page the 
legend, "Cotton is King: and Pro-Slavery Argu- 
ments," and one of the weighty problems which 
engrossed the attention of its compilers was the 
effort England was making to free herself from 
dependence on slave-made cotton. I have also dis- 

(27) 



28 COTTON 

covered in this musty volume some extracts from 
the London Economist of 1859 which — except for 
their direct references to slavery; — might well have 
appeared yesterday. The Economist Editor com- 
ments on the fact that Brazil, Egypt and the West 
Indies all grow cotton and might grow more, "but 
as an immediate and practical question of supply, 
it is confined to America and British India." 

To India, however, he looks very hopefully. 
The situation, he says, "invests the subject of 
Indian cotton growing with enormous interest. 

In some important respects the 

conditions of supply from India differ very much 
from those which attach to and determine the sup- 
ply from America. In India there is no limit 
to the quantity of labor. There may be said to be 
little or none to the quantity of land. The obstacle 
is of another kind; it lies almost exclusively in lack 
of cheap transit." Therefore he finds new hopes 
in the "railways which are being constructed . . 
. . . to bring in the abundant labor of millions 
of our fellow subjects in India to cheapen and in- 
crease the supply of cotton." No English consul 
or cotton manufacturer in our own time has had 
a severer attack of Mulberry Sellers optimism than 
did this Economist writer of fifty years ago. 

"hope springs eternal " 

Writing later in 1859, the Editor of the Econo- 
mist lauded in the highest terms the continued 
efforts to make England independent of Southern 
cotton. "We cannot well conceive of stronger con- 
siderations than those which are moving English- 
men to action in this particular," he says; ,and this 
time he also lays stress on the opportunities in 



COTTON 29 

Africa. Missionaries from various sections also 
believed that West Africa and the Niger countries 
would relieve the situation; and Lord Palmerston 
shared the enthusiastic faith that Great Britain 
would "find on the West Coast of Africa a most 

valuable supply of cotton cotton 

districts more extensive than 

those of India." 

If Alexander Pope were alive to-day he could 
ask no stronger confirmation of his famous dictum 
that "hope springs eternal in the human breast" 
than the persistence with which English manu- 
facturers still hug the delusion that Africa and 
India will enable them — as their fathers and grand- 
fathers fifty years ago hoped it would enable them 
— to get a large part of their raw cotton from 
Old World districts. 

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE CRUCIAL TEST CAME 

We all remember how on one occasion Uncle 
Remus was telling the Little Boy of one of Brer 
Rabbit's hair-breadth escapes. The pursuer was 
almost upon Mr. Cottontail and in another moment 
might have had him in his furious grasp. "And 
right then Brer Rabbit he dumb a tree," said 
Uncle Remus. 

"But rabbits can't cHmb trees," protested the 
Little Boy. 

"Never mind," replied the old darkey, "Brer 
Rabbit this time was obleeged — jest obleeged — to 
climb the tree — en' he dumb it." 

Well, in 1862 the English spinner reached the 
same inexorable crisis that confronted Brer Rabbit 
— the time when he knew he was "jest obleeged 
to climb the tree." 



30 COTTON 

And he didn't climb it. 

SOME state's evidence 

Let the British edition of the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica tell the story. Let us hear this piece of 
State's evidence as to the crisis which came when 
war so nearly stopped cotton production in the 
South: 

"This great source of supply, when apparently 
most abundant and secure, was shortly afterwards 
suddenly cut off, and thousands were for a time de- 
prived of employment and the means of subsistence. 
In this period of destitution the cotton-growing 
resources of every part of the globe were tested to 
the utmost; and in the Exhibition of 1862 the rep- 
resentatives of every country from which supplies 
might be expected met to concert measures for ob- 
taining all that was wanted without the aid of 
America. The colonies and dependencies of Great 
Britain, including India, seemed well able to grow 
all the cotton that could be required, whilst num- 
erous other countries were ready to afford their co- 
operation. A powerful stimulus was thus given to 
the growth of cotton in all directions; a degree of 
activity and enterprise never witnessed before 
was seen in India, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, 
Africa, the West Indies, Queensland, New South 
Wales, Peru, Brazil, and in short wherever cotton 
could be produced; and there seemed no room to 
doubt that in a short time there would be abimdant 
supplies independently of America. But ten years 
afterwards, in the Exhibition of 1872, which was 
specially devoted to cotton, a few only of the thirty- 
five countries which had sent their samples in 1862 
again appeared, and these for the most part only to 



COTTON 31 

bear witness to disappointment and failure. Amer- 
ica had re-entered the field of competition, and was 
rapidly gaining ground so as to be able to bid de- 
fiance to the world." 

AFRICAN AND INDIAN EXPERIMENTS NOT A SUCCESS 

An even more vivid picture of the inducements 
to foreign competition which England held out 
during the Civil War period is furnished by the 
1869 report of the Cotton Commissioner of India. 
So immense were the profits that the Indian cotton 
farmers received, he says, that they committed all 
sorts of absurdities: "Silver plowshares and tires 
of solid silver for cartwheels made their appear- 
ance here and there; fancy prices were paid for 
bullocks of a favorite color or possessing some 
peculiarities of tail, and enormous sums were 
squandered on marriage ceremonies." And yet in 
spite of the enormous subsidies (virtually) which 
were paid, and the energy with which the experi- 
ment was prosecuted, it was found impossible even 
with artificial inflation to carry the Indian crop 
beyond 3,000,000 bales. 

As to Africa, the experiments there have never 
been at any time anything but inglorious failures ; 
and it is said that the cotton made in the Niger 
territory has cost 50 cents a pound. A West Afri- 
can correspondent of the London Times says that 
the much vaunted "colonies of Lagos, Southern 
Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and Gambia, 
under the most favorable circumstances .... 
will not be capable of producing more than 350,- 
000 bales, and these figures will not be attained for 
many years, if ever." 



32 COTTON 

WORLD^S DEMAND WILL GROW FASTER THAN FOREIGN 
PRODUCTION 

It is not likely, of course, that all these attempts 
to grow cotton outside the South will fail utterly; 
but what does seem sure is that the world's demand 
for cotton will grow much faster than the foreign 
supply, and that therefore our country will be called 
on in the future, as heretofore, for a constantly in- 
creasing crop. 

And in support of this opinion the writer will 
quote just three opinions, and then pass on to other 
subjects. 

First, our own National Department of Agricul- 
ture in its Crop Reporter for December, 1905, 
makes this conservative statement of fact: "The 
organized efforts of powerful associations of cotton 
manufacturers in Great Britain, Germany, and 
France to establish and stimulate cotton production 
in the colonies of these coimtries, which began early 
in 1903 with a large capital subscribed for promo- 
tion, have so far resulted in no perceptible addition 
to the world's cotton crop, and there are no present 
indications of a competition of new fields of produc- 
tion which will materially affect the foreign market 
for the upland cotton of this country for many 
years." 

LOWER SOUTH AMERICA ALONE CAN COMPETE WITH 
THE SOUTH 

Even more interesting is the opinion of the late 
Edward Atkinson, as given in an article in the 
Manufacturers' Record in 1903. During the Civil 
War Mr. Atkinson imported cotton from India^ 
Egypt, China, West Africa, Peru and Brazil, and 
his conclusion is that nearly all the foreign cotton 



COTTON 33 

is as unsatisfactory in quality as it is deficient in 
quantity. None of the countries mentioned, he 
says, have a congenial climate such as ours. The 
Indian fiber is "short, rough and unsuited to any 
but the coarsest fabrics;" the Chinese fiber he found 
"only about a quarter of an inch long ;" the cotton 
from West Africa "wholly unfit for use as a sub- 
stitute for America;" and he did not think Peru or 
Brazil could compete with the South. Summing 
up, Mr. Atkinson declared that while he should 
like to believe otherwise, he was forced to the con- 
clusion that the South would have a virtual monopo- 
ly for fifty years. "There is but one section of the 
earth's surface, where, in my judgment, there can 
be competition with our Cotton States in growing 
cotton of equal quality, and that is on the high 
pampas of the Paraguay and Parana Rivers, suf- 
ficiently elevated to be free from tropical condi- 
tions, endowed with a soil of wonderful fertility and 
capable of unlimited crops of cotton and wheat 

Therefore our Cotton States have an 

unwholesome but practical monopoly of the cotton 
of commerce. They are not, therefore, under the 
wholesome stimulus of prospective want, and there- 
fore their method as a rule, subject to conspicuous 
exceptions, in dealing with their land, their cotton 
and their cotton bale, is as bad as it can be, as I have 
often said when face to face with my friends in the 
South." 

ENGLISH AUTHORITIES FINALLY ADMIT THE SOUTH^S 
SUPREMACY 

Lastly I come to the most striking testimony of 
all — direct evidence given by "our friends, the ene- 
my." It is the report of the Commissioners sent 



34 cotto:n' 

out by the British Government to investigate the 
cotton-growing possibilities of East Africa; and 
with this parting shot we shall drop the question of 
possible foreign competition with the Southern 
States : 

"All efforts to raise cotton successfully elsewhere 
than in the Southern part of the United States have 
failed. This is the home of the cotton plant, and if 
it will grow and fruit elsewhere to the extent that 
the staple have a substantial commercial value, the 
fact is yet to be demonstrated. It was experi- 
mented with under different suns during and after 
the American Civil War, and all the experiments 
failed. Providence has given the Southern farmer a 
monopoly of the indispensable cotton crop, and he 
need not take fright when the price soars and there 
are heard threats of turning Africa, Egypt or other 
countries into cotton fields and making them furnish 
the world's supply." 



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CHAPTER IV. 

THE MEN WHO MAKE COTTON: WHITES AND 
BLACKS ; PLANTERS AND TENANTS 

Unique in many other features already men- 
tioned, cotton is also unique among American staples 
in that it is the favorite crop of the negro farmer 
and that in its production a larger number of ten- 
ants are employed than in any other crop. 

WHY THE NUMBER OF TENANTS INCREASED IN 1890- 

1900 

Of the farms in the ten Cotton States in 1900 
48.3 per cent, were operated by owners, 20.3 per 
cent, by cash tenants, and 31.4 by share tenants — 
showing a decrease for the decade of 15 per cent, in 
proportion operated by owners, a gain of 12 per 
cent, in the proportion worked by share tenants, and 
a gain of 33.1-3 per cent, in percentage operated by 
cash tenants. Of share tenants there are several 
classes. Some rent land only, paying therefor 
one-fourth of the farm product; others are fur- 
nished land, stock, tools, and one-half fertilizer, 
and receive one-half the crop, while still others are 
content to furnish labor only for one-third the yield. 

The relative decrease in number of farms op- 
erated by owners during the last census decade must 
be attributed to the emigration of farm owners to 

(35) 



36 COTTON 

towns, as a result of the depression in cotton prices. 
Sir Guilford Molesworth estimates that between 
1872 and 1894 prices of general commodities fell 
50 per cent., while cotton prices declined 70 per cent. 
With the turn in the tide in prices, one now finds 
abundant evidence of a similar turn in the tide of 
migration. 

NEGROES IMPORTANCE IN COTTON PRODUCTION PROB- 
ABLY OVERESTIMATED 

As to the negro in cotton production there are 
probably conflicting impressions and delusions. "A 
regular 'cottontot' " as he has been called, the negro, 
the mule, and the cotton patch are inseparably 
linked together in the public mind. In 1899 little 
more than half of the Southern M^hite farmers grew 
cotton, while 84 per cent, of the negroes were faith- 
ful to their favorite staple. 

And yet it is more than Hkely that the 
average reader has overestimated the negro's 
importance as a factor in cotton-growing. 
It is so picturesque to have the black negro 
in the white cotton field that in about ninety- 
nine per cent, of our book, magazine, and 
tourist pictures it is the son of Ham and not the 
white man who is laboring v/ith the fleecy staple. 
As a result of all this, the average Northern reader 
would probably be surprised to learn of hundreds 
of thousands of small white farmers with their fam- 
ilies who make cotton from planting to picking al- 
most or entirely without negro labor. On many 
farms a negro is never employed; on many others, 
negroes are called in only for a few days' work in 
the height of the busy season. 



COTTON 37 

Of the 1,418,000 cotton farms reported in 1900, 
849,000 were operated by whites. White farmers 
cultivated 14,616,000 acres, and negro farmers, 
9,650,000 acres. (Of course, though, much negro 
labor was hired to assist in cultivating the white 
farms.) 

THE SHIFTLESS NEGRO TENANT FARMER 

Of the negro farmers more than four-fifths are 
tenants— or about 500,000 of the nearly 600,000 
negro farmers. "Clearly the central feature of the 
Southern farm life of the negro race," says Prof. 
W. E. Du Bois, "is the tenant class — this half mil- 
lion black men who hire farms on various terms, and 
a large proportion of whom stand about midway be- 
tween slavery and ownership." 

One hardly knows whether to say that the negro's 
indifference, his contentment with this lot, makes 
the situation more or less tragical. "Take ye no 
thought for the morrow — what ye shall eat, nor yet 
for your body, what ye shall put on," is one Bible 
commandment which the negro literally obeys. 
And his other favorite commandment is like unto it : 
"Multiply and replenish the earth" — taking equally 
little heed for the morrow of the niggerkins them- 
selves, unless Topsy-like, they "just grow." As an 
old negro whom the writer used to know would say, 
"If I've got a peck of corn meal in the bar'l, I 
ain't got nothin' to worry about." 

"The one-room cabin" says Prof. Du Bois, "is 
still the typical farm home of the negro," and as 
for his food and disposition : 

"Oh, I gits my stren'th from white side meat, 

I sops all de sorghum a nigger kin eat, 

I chaws wheat bread on Saddy night 

En' I ain't no han' to run f um a fight." 



38 COTTON 

Let us look for a minute at our typical negro 
tenant. He moves in December to a new farm, we 
will say — for he has a roving instinct that prevents 
his remaining long at any place. He probably 
rents horse, land and tools from the farm owner, 
taking half the crop for his labor, and the farmer 
stands his security for supplies at the nearest store. 
Or he may rent land only, paying one-fourth the 
crop for the land, and mortgage his unplanted 
crop to the merchant for advance supplies. At 
any rate, the negro's recklessness, coupled with the 
exorbitant "time prices" charged, leads him perhaps 
to buy more than his crop pays for — so that the mer- 
chant's reckoning when the negro brings in his 
three or four bales of cotton in the fall, has been 
pretty accurately set forth in the popular couplet: 

" Naught's a naught, figger's a figger, 

All for the white man, and none for the nigger." 

Heretofore it has been true in most cases per- 
haps that the negro actually ended the year owing 
the merchant a balance on the year's supplies — the 
merchant not allowing the balance, however, to be- 
come more than just large enough to insure the 
negro's becoming his bondservant for another year. 

If, however, the negro finds himself burdened 
with an unexpected cash surplus after paying his 
debts, he probably relieves the burden aforesaid by 
buying an organ (which no member of his family 
can play) or a calendar clock (the dates of which 
he can barely read) or a magnificent range (on 
which his wife will experiment with side meat and 
corn bread until she becomes disgusted and goes 
back to the family fire-place) . 




HOW THE NEGRO TENANTS LIVE. 

The pictures show typical homes of negro croppers and renters of the poorer 
class. The houses, however, are being steadily improved. 





NEGRO PICKERS AT WORK AND AT HOME. 

(,) Favorite method of weighing the day's harvest, the basket supported by a 
fence rail borne on the shoulders of two men. ^B) a negro cabm. 



COTTON 89 

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF NEGRO FARMER 

Such is our typical negro — "light-hearted, good- 
natured and aisily lynched," as Mr. Dooley says — 
typical, but not the only type. A by no means in- 
considerable number of negroes are acquiring 
property, building better houses, and adopting im- 
proved methods of farming. Many negroes once 
tenants have bought portions of the farms where 
they formerly worked. For example, take Deal 
Jackson, a Georgia negro cotton grower, who every 
year for seven years past has beaten every one of the 
110,906 white farmers of his State in getting the 
first bale to market. Less than twenty years ago 
Deal was a tenant. He borrowed $1,000 to buy a 
run-down farm, mortgaging the place as security. 
Then like that proverbially modest man who 
wanted each year to buy just the land "j'inin' his," 
so Deal continued to bu}^ adjoining tracts until he 
has 2,000 acres of fertile land, operating, with his 
tenants, forty-five plows. 

WHEN LOW PRICES CRUSHED BOTH WHITES AND 

BLACKS 

Nor should we forget that it is not the negro 
alone who has struggled year after year. Sisyphus- 
like, with the burden of debt. Thousands of white 
tenants, and o~f white farm owners as well, have 
had the same experience. In fact, unless the farmer 
carried some surplus savings into that long period 
of low prices from 1891 to 1901, such an experience 
was almost unavoidable. With any reasonably 
high standard of living, cotton was then below the 
cost of production. No wonder farm owners moved 



40 COTTON 

to towns and mortgages became almost as common 
as they were in the West in the days of low-priced 
corn. Ten-cent cotton then seemed an iridescent 
dream, and men talked of it as the feature of some 
Golden Age gone never to return. 

CHANGES RESULTING FROM HIGH-PRICED COTTON 

Of course, with the coming of higher prices for 
cotton, important changes are taking place. The 
mortgage and the crop lien, with all except the 
hopelessly shiftless class, are disappearing like snow 
before a summer smi — unless we except the mort- 
gage given by the aspiring tenant in his ambition 
to become a land-owner himself. 

As to the future, one must not predict too lightly, 
for it is easy to see that the present high price of 
cotton will make itself felt not in one direction only, 
but in counter currents. 

As one result, more tenants wish to buy lands 
for themselves ; as another result, land is increasing 
in value so that it requires greater savings to buy 
it. On the v/hole, however, it is now relatively easier 
to become one's own landlord, and with high prices 
the tenant class is likely to decrease. 

As one result, too, more people are attracted by 
the old plantation system; as another result, labor- 
ers find it so profitable to work for themselves that 
labor is much more expensive than it used to be. 
But as the negro works better in groups, the large 
plantation has at least this advantage in its struggle 
to reassert itself. 

With high prices then, the one sure thing — 
whether the proportion of tenants increase or de- 
crease, whether the plantation system decline or 



COTTON 41 

flourish — is that a larger proportion of white people 
will engage in cotton production. If labor can be 
had few town occupations are more profitable. And 
as for the man who has his own labor, who must have 
his own children at work, how much better for 
health, safety and comfort, as well as profit, 
to have them on the cotton farm instead of in the 
cotton factory ! 

Already many cotton mills are beginning to suf- 
fer for labor because the tide is turning back to 
the farms. 



CHAPTER V. 

A 25,000,000 BALE crop: will the south be 

READY WHEN THE WORLD DEMANDS IT? 

Thirty years ago the South grew only 4,000,000 
bales of cotton; twenty years ago 6,000,000 bales; 
ten years ago, 8,000,000 bales; the last three crops 
have averaged more than 11,000,000. 

And the end is not yet. Cotton is not only sup- 
planting other fabrics (we have seen how rapidly 
wool production is decreasing) , but the demand for 
the great Southern staple is increasing as a result 
of the constant raising of our standards of living 
and of comfort, and as a result of the advance of 
civilization among peoples heretofore barbarous. 
The time will soon have passed when "the lady in 
middle Africa may cavalierly inform the agent of 
the American cotton mill that clothes are of doubt- 
ful propriety amongst the aristocracy of the Con- 
go Valley anyhow." 

THE WORLD WILL DEMAND 42,000,000 BALES 

"It is estimated," says the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, " that of the world's popula- 
tion of 1,500,000,000, about 500,000,000 regularly 
wear clothes, about 750,000,000 are partially 

(42) 



COTTON 43 

clothed, and 250,000,000 habitually go almost 
naked, and that to clothe the entire population of 
the world would require 42,000,000 bales of 500 
pounds each. It therefore seems more than likely 
that the cotton industry will go on expanding until 
the whole of the inhabited earth is clothed with the 
products of its looms." 

And it is the opinion of the authors that the South 
will increase her production just as fast as the world 
increases her demands. We have yet a shamefully 
low average yield; we are depending yet on fear- 
fully mistreated soils ; we are yet planting miserably 
selected seed ; and we have very inefficient tools and 
machinery. Necessity, that mother of invention, 
will help us reform these abuses — just as necessity 
brought about the new inventions in cotton spin- 
ning, and just as necessity brought about Whitney's 
cotton gin. When it becomes necessary for her to 
furnish the world 25,000,000 bales of cotton, the 
South will furnish it. 

OF SOUTHERN LANDS ONLY ONE ACRE IN SEVEN- 
TEEN NOW IN COTTON 

Even if we were not going to double the ^aeld 
(and unless the boll weevil interferes, men now liv- 
ing may see that result), we have enough available 
idle land to make 30,000,000 bales with the present 
low average yield per acre. Of the twelve Cotton 
States only one acre in seventeen is now planted 
to the fleecy staple, and onlj^- one acre in eleven of 
the cotton-producing counties. Only two-fifths 
of the farm lands of the South are yet improved for 
any sort of crop. 

The great trouble is that we have so long allowed 
the bulk of our cotton lands to be butchered by 



44 COTTON 

negro slaves and negro tenants that we do not yet 
appreciate the marvelous possibilities of scientific 
cotton farming. Just take the bald statement of 
Dr. H. J. Webber: "The average yield of cotton 
in the United States is only about 190 pounds of 
lint per acre, while on many large tracts carefully 
cultivated a yield of 500 to 800 pounds per acre 
is frequently obtained." Here in itself is material 
for a book of sermons. 

SEED SELECTION MAY INCREASE YIELD 30 TO 50 
PER CENT. 

For one thing, the seed for the cotton crop are 
probably selected with less care than are seed for 
any other farm crop that men grow. Your cotton 
farmer will carefully select the largest and best- 
formed ears for his seed corn; he will pay high 
prices for improved seed or oats; even his water- 
melon seed are selected from the most luscious and 
reddest-meated specimens of last summer. But 
when it comes to seed for his cotton crop he is 
strangely careless. The average farmer gets his 
seed haphazard from the general supply at the gin 
— good, bad, indifferent; early, late, medium; tall, 
bushy, and ordinary, varieties all mixed. 

With such conditions there is indeed abundant 
reason for believing that the average cotton yield per 
acre could be increased one-fourth by only five 
years' wise selection of seed. We know a farmer 
now who by selecting seed from the most thrifty 
stalks and having the seed ginned separately, in 
two years so improved the crop from the selected 
seed that the improvement was easily noted and 
became a matter of comment by persons passing on 



COTTON 45 

the road. We know another farmer who by a few 
years' seed selection has increased the yield of cot- 
ton thus improved from 400 to 600 pounds while 
seed selected in the old way grown on similar land 
and under similar conditions still makes its bare 400 
pounds an acre. Fifty per cent, increase from 
four years' selection of seed ! 

Of course, where a special type of cotton has been 
nurtured and improved through a long period of 
years' seed selection has increased the yield of cot- 
results can be obtained than with ordinary farm- 
bred seed ; and when our farmers come to a proper 
appreciation of this fact, a long step toward the 
doubled yield will have been made by this one re- 
form. Thus one of our State Departments of 
Agriculture, speaking of a five-year test of cotton 
varieties (with practically the same conditions of soil, 
fertilization and cultivation), declares that in 1900, 
in a test of eight varieties the difference between 
the variety yielding the largest amount of seed cot- 
ton per acre, and the one the smallest, was 565 
pounds; in 1901 and 1902 in tests of seven varieties 
each, the differences were 520 and 790 pounds re- 
spectively; in 1903, 662 1-2 pounds when nine 
varieties were incorporated; and 725 2-5 pounds 
difference in 1904 in a test of twenty-one varieties. 

In other words, one man uses intelligence in seed 
selection ; another man does not ; both work equally 
hard; both have land of equal value; both expend 
the same amount for fertilizers — but the scientific 
cotton farmer gets from 500 to 700 pounds more 
per acre than the thoughtless clodhopper. 

So much for what we may accomplish by seed 
selection alone. 



46 COTTON 

CORN S'ETEN TIMES^ WHEAT TWICE^ AS EXHAUSTIVE 
AS COTTON 

But it is not alone in our reckless disregard of 
the ancient laws of breeding that we have succeeded 
in bringing down the yield of cotton far below what 
it should be; like a Prodigal Son, wasting his sub- 
stance in riotous living, we have also been guilty of 
inexcusable folly in dealing with Nature's greatest 
gift to the farmer — the soil itself. Land-starved 
for ages, our forefathers came from Europe to our 
Southern States and reveled in mad intoxication in 
the seemingly unlimited areas of virgin soils they 
found. Before the Civil War it was customary to 
clear up land, grow a few crops of cotton on it, 
then "turn it out" to broomsage and gullies, and 
clear up more new lands for the cotton crop. The 
old fields of the South probably cover an area as 
large as five of the New England States. So it was 
not mere poetic sentiment, but the deep recognition 
of a damning economic sin that moved Sidney 
Lanier to say : 

* ' Upon that generous rounding side 

With gullies scarified 
When keen Neglect his lash hath plied 
Yon old deserted Georgian hill 
Bares to the sun his piteous aged crest 

And seamy breast, 
By restless-hearted children left to lie 
Untended there beneath the heedless sky, 
As barbarous folk expose their old to die." 

Really, as we shall see further on in this book, 
there is less reason for the abandoned field in cotton 
growing than in any other kind of farming. An 
average crop of wheat requires twice as much plant 
food as an average crop of cotton, and an average 
crop of corn nearly seven times as much. 



COTTON 47 

Or to put the matter in even more striking form, 
it appears that if through feeding and manuring, 
the wheat straw, corn stover and cotton seed of 
these three crops respectively are each returned to 
the soil, wheat requires nineteen times as much of 
the great fertilizing elements as cotton, and corn 
thirtj^ times as much. 

Sooner or later the Southern farmer will learn to 
apply this doctrine ; the farm paper, the agricultural 
text-book in the public school, the agricultural col- 
lege, the Farmers' Institute workers, all are ham- 
mering away at the idea. And then when the cotton 
farmer gets this double- jointed idea: first, that he 
has the finest stock food in the world; second, that 
with this by-product properly utilized he has the 
crop that is of all crops the kindest to the soil — and 
a practical monopoly of this crop, — why, then, we 
shall have a new era in Southern agriculture; and 
as Dr. B. T. Galloway says, "a system of land- 
robbing mil give way to a system of land-building." 

THE MECHANICAL COTTON-PICKER 

But, some one reminds us, in this day of labor- 
saving machinery cotton is still the one crop most 
fully dependent on hand labor. It is said that 
within fifty years the time of human labor required 
to produce a bushel of corn has decreased from four 
hours to thirty-four minutes, and for a bushel of 
wheat from three hours and ten minutes to ten min- 
utes, while it is doubtful if the time of human labor 
required to produce a pound of cotton has been di- 
minished even one-third. ^Vhat then — when the 
world has begun to demand 25,000,000 bales of the 
South, even though we have so improved our seed 



48 COTTON 

and so built up our lands as to find no difficulty 
here, shall we not nevertheless be hopelessly balked 
by lack of labor for chopping and picking the crop? 

This problem, in our opinion, is another one that 
is likely to solve itself when inexorable circumstance 
demands that it do so. 

As for hoeing the cotton, that problem is already 
solved. Within two miles of where this book is 
written, some of the finest cotton in the county was 
grown last year entirely without hand-chopping — 
simply by the right use of the peg-tooth smoothing 
harrow and the cultivator. The cotton was thinned 
and kept free from grass entirely by these tools. 
And instead of the average yield of 200 pounds of 
lint per acre, this land made 700 pomids of lint per 
acre! 

A much more serious problem is the mechanical 
cotton-picker. There are many lions in the path. 
Cotton does not open all at once, but irregularly 
through a period of several weeks. Cotton does not 
have the uniformity of corn or wheat in size or 
position, but is irregularly placed in the rows, its 
limbs grow all over it, and the plants vary hope- 
lessly in size; the limbs furthermore are easily 
broken. Finally, the lint should be free from dirt 
and trash, and many have thought that only the 
human hand could select the lint from the open bolls 
\vithout adding a ruinously large quantity of dead 
leaves and dirt. 

Clearty, therefore, the making of a mechanical 
picker is a hard task, and yet so fertile is the human 
imagination and so enormous are the rewards await- 
ing the man who succeeds in making an effective 
picker — the wealth of Croesus may be his — that 
we expect it to come, and to come not very many 



COTTON 49 

years hence. Writing of this matter in a farm 
paper early in 1904, we said: "The present labor 
crisis in the Cotton Belt is certain to bring the mat- 
ter to the attention of inventors. We have 
long thought of the cotton picker as an impossi- 
bility, because tlie bolls are irregularly placed, 
ripen irregularly, and must not be mixed with 
limbs and leaves in picking. But the suggestion 
now made puts the matter in a new light. Instead 
of a harvesting machine on a big scale such as we 
have for grain, a small machine carefully guided 
and watched over by an operator, would be put to 
the task of taking the cotton from the open bolls. 
It does not look as if this should be wholly impos- 
sible. And as there are millions in it for the man 
who succeeds at it, it is likely to be done if it can 
be done," 

THE LOWRY COTTON PICKER DESCRIBED 

Within the last few months the South has seen 
this "small machine carefully guided and watched 

over by an operator, put to the 

task of taking the cotton from the open boUs." It 
is the Lowry Picker, and its mode of operation has 
been fully described as follows; the photographs 
given herewith making the matter stiU plainer: 

"The machine is not entirely automatic, as the 
arms that carry the little wheels which gather in the 
fleecy staple must be directed by human hands to 
the open bolls. The arms carry a chain with 
hooked teeth, adjusted like the chains of a bicycle. 
When the machine is in operation this chain re- 
volves rapidly and the curved hooks gather up the 
staple the instant it touches the open boll, and 



50 COTTON 

carries the cotton upward until it is deflected off 
into a receptacle, by a revolving brush. The ma- 
chine carries four operators and a driver, for each 
of whom a comfortable seat is prepared. There 
is no necessity for any bending or stooping on the 
part of the operator, and all he is required to do 
is to direct the well-balanced and nicely-adjusted 
arms of the machine. It is claimed by the inventor 
that when finally perfected each arm should gather 
up one boll per second, at a very low rate of speed, 
making 480 bolls per minute for the four opera- 
tions, or 28,800 per hour. As the bolls early in the 
season average 60 to 80 in the pound, one macliine 
could pick from 3,600 to 4,800 pounds per day of 
ten hours. One of these machines with four boys 
and a driver could do the work of twenty average 
pickers." 

Some who have seen the Lowry Picker ask: 
"And what shall it profit the cotton farmer to have 
this machine, since even with it the human hand, 
or what is virtually an extension of the human 
hand, must be directed to each individual boll?" 
The advantage lies in the fact that the man who 
operates the mechanical hand at least saves (or 
should save) the time required in bending over 
each new stalk and the time required in drawing 
his hand back and forth in putting each separate 
handful into his picking-sack — and this is more 
than half the time required in picking. 

Others who think Mr. Lowry has invented a 
practical device for picking the cotton say that he 
has hampered its success by putting it in connec- 
tion with a motive power which is not satisfactory: 
in other words, he is sacrificing a good invention 




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COTTON 51 

of great possibilities by yoking it with a motive- 
power invention absolutely worthless. 

Whatever the difficulties, we may be sure that if 
Mr. Lowiy's basic principle is right, it will sooner 
or later be separated from all entanghng alliances 
and set to the service of a great need. And sup- 
pose it succeeds simply in doing the work of four 
men? Or suppose it reduces the cost of picking 
by just half? Picking now costs $100,000,000 a 
year — think of saving just $50,000,000 annually 
to the South! Or to put it differently, "To pick a 
crop of 11,000,000 bales, at an average of 150 
pounds of seed cotton a day per picker, means that 
for a picking season of three months, consisting of 
twenty working days each, somewhat over 1,830,- 
000 people must be kept at work. Hence the basis 
for the claim that a picker doing the work of four 
men would reduce 1,500,000 people to other in- 
dustries for a fourth of each year." 

Indeed, there are miUions in it! 



Note. — Of course many other pickers besides the Lowry have been 
brought before the public, but the Lowry is clearly the one that now 
gives most promise of success. We know an old man who twenty 
years ago invented a picker and still has faith that his idea will work 
into a success. An incorporated company, the Dixie Cotton Picker Co. , 
of Chicago, is also at work upon the problem, and we are indebted to 
them for the pictures of their machine appearing herewith, and for the 
following description of how it works : 

"The two large wheels of the machine travel in the furrows between 
the rows, the plants being gathered into the front of the machine between 
the two points of the gatherers; and, as the bushes strike the apron, 
they are gently bent over to the ground so that the picking spindles 
enter the same while the plants are held between the skirts running 
parallel with the machine. There is continually entering the bushes 
during the progress of the machine forward about 60 revolving picking 
fingers. It is evident, also, that much cotton will be picked even 
though it be lying upon the ground, because these picking fingers with 
every vertical thrust downward reach clear to the ground. Each of 
these picking fingers, while in the plant, makes 22 revolutions and con- 
tinues revolving about their own axes until they have disappeared into 
the machine; at which time they cease revolving, and a stripping wheel 



52 COTTON 

cleans the cotton by traversing the full length of each spindle. This 
stripping wheel is better termed a slotted wheel which revolves rapidly 
in the opposite direction to that which the spindle or picking fingers are 
traveling; and after clearing the cotton from the fingers, it is carried 
up to a point where a set of doffer wheels clears the slotted wheel of its 
load of cotton, throwing the same into a basket which rides on the rear 
of the machine. The machine weighs about 1200 pounds, has a raising 
and lowermg device upon it which is essential in getting in and out of 
the cotton field as well as in turning around." 



CHAPTER VI. 

cotton: what it means and will mean to the 
southern states 

Cotton! 

To every boy born and bred in the Southern 
States it is a magical word from the time he is big 
enough to roll in its billow}^ heaps in the "cotton 
house" or go out into the June cotton field to find 
the first white bloom for his father, or ride to the gin 
on the big two-horse wagon-bed which the hands 
have packed with the snowy fleece new-gathered 
from the autumn fields. White or black, if his 
father is not of unusual wealth, he early learns to 
labor with his own hands in making the crop; and 
the entire process of cultivation is familiar to him. 

EVERY SOUTHER'N BOY KNOWS COTTON FARMING 

Long before he leaves off knee pants he learns 
to plow the cool, fresh earth in early spring; helps 
haul out the great loads of manure from the barn; 
brings in the malodorous loads of fertilizer from the 
nearest village; helps "roll" the planting seed in 
wet ashes, so that the dry lint may not hold them 
together in bunches. For planting time is now at 
hand: the dogwoods are blossoming; the first "tur- 
tle-dove" has been heard; the fisherman has begun 
to tell of satisfactory catches in the nearby streams ; 
"Uncle Isaac" and "Black Bob" dispute wisely 
as to whether this phase of the moon portends warm 

(53) 



54 COTTON 

or cool weather, wet or dry. For the cotton seed 
must be ready to "come up" as soon as ail danger 
of frost is passed; and now the rows, ridged and 
waiting, are opened, and fertilizer and seed dis- 
tributed. Then the long green line of two-leaved 
plants, bursting the hard seed-covering they have 
pushed above ground — and the grass that will not 
let them be and that we have alwaj^s with us. Chop- 
ping then — ^white and black, old and young, every- 
body strong enough to handle a hoe. And the 
plants flourish under the summer sun; now "hoe- 
hands" report that some plants have "seven leaves," 
then that limbs have come, and squares — and finally 
the anxiety as to which farmer in the neighborhood 
shall report the first bloom, or which one in the 
county shall send the first one to the editor of the 
county paper. Weeks, then, of budding and bloom- 
ing and growing, the thrifty branches bedecked with 
white blooms that opened this morning and red 
blooms of yesterday, and becoming heavy now 
with green and growing bolls. Then on the lowest 
stalks the bolls begin to open — and who now will gin 
the first bale? The women in the towns begin to 
tremble for their negro cooks, and employers of 
colored men also begin to scent danger. For the 
coronation of King Cotton is at hand; and all the 
sons and daughters of Ham must dance attendance. 
Cotton-picking has an irresistible attraction for all 
negroes, especially when the picking is done in 
groups, and though they stay in town even through 
the watermelon season, cotton picking is likely to 
lure them back to farms. 

"The real depth of feeling," as some one has said, 
"the sheer abandon and the proper stage setting 
does not come until September has touched the cot- 
ton fields, and the great hearts of the maturing bolls 



COTTON 55 

burst with joy. That is the supreme moment, and 
the beautifully blended voices of the negro cotton 
pickers of the South is a sound, once heard, never 
to be forgotten. One cannot find any adjective to 
express the wild untutored beauty of it. It is a 
chant of inexpressible rhythm, with a note of sad- 
ness and mingled hope and regret, and one cannot 
stop without burdening it with that indefinable 
qualification — and calling it weird . . . these 
days and nights filled with song and laughter, and 
the nimble plying of fingers set to music that is per- 
haps a lone relic of a long-forgotten Congo." 

IN DIXIE COTTON IS REALLY KING 

All this the Southern man knows from his youth 
up ; it is his inheritance and a part of his life. For 
whatever it may or may not be to the rest of the 
world, in "Dixie" cotton is really king. Here 
cotton is the life blood of commerce, its condition, 
the thermometer of trade. Every man talks cotton ; 
every man has an opinion as to the size of the crops ; 
the weather conditions in Texas and throughout 
the Cotton Belt are subjects of general interest; 
the Government crop report is read with more in- 
terest than anything else a newspaper prints. 

When cotton prices drop, every Southern man 
feels the blow; when cotton prices advance, every 
industry throbs with new vigor. 

We can see then what it means to the South when 
we say that for the last five crops for which the fig- 
ures may be given, she has received nearly $1,000,- 
000,000 more than for the preceding five crops — 
twice as much money as is invested in all our Ameri- 
can cotton mills. For the crop of 1904 and 1905 
she received $341,000,000 more than for the crop 



56 COTTON 

of 1899 — which sum if equally divided, would give 
a surplus of $240 to each of the 1,418,000 farms 
growing cotton, of $21 each to every one of the 
16,000,000 inhabitants of the Cotton States. 

ASTOUNDING SOUTHEHN PROSPERITY 

Small wonder that Southern railways report 
heavier increases in earnings than lines in any other 
section of the country. 

Small wonder that the assessed valuation of 
Southern property is now increasing three times as 
rapidly as in the decade 1890-1900. 

Small wonder that savings and bank deposits in 
the Southern States from 1900 to 1905 increased 
more than 100 per cent, while the increase for the 
rest of the United States was only 50 per cent. 

Small wonder that it is no extraordinary affair 
a Sampson County, North Carolina, farmer re- 
ported to us when he said last week that a farm he 
bought four years ago for $57.50 per acre would 
sell now for $100; another farm bought then for 
$3,000 was recently sold for $8,000 ; land values in 
his county have increased 33 1-3 per cent, within a 
year, a total increase of a million dollars for this 
one cotton county. ( We know of two South Caro- 
lina cotton farms, one of which in three years has 
increased in selling price from $3,000 to $8,000 and 
another from $7,000 to $20,000.) 

Small wonder that Dr. Walter H. Page declares 
in the World's Work that we "are in sight of the 
time when the cotton grower in the old Slave States 
will become the most prosperous tiller of the earth." 

It is, in fact, a new South that we have. The 
factory, the bank, the church, the school, the news- 
paper — all are benefited by the increase in prices 




con ON BOLLS: FIBERS OTHER THAN COTTON. 

The bolls are typical (1) Asiatic, (2) Sea Island, (3) American Upland; (B) rep- 
commou hard fibers other than cotton; (C) soft fibers; flax, hemp, and jute. 



COTTON 57 

paid for the South's great staple crop. The archi- 
tect will tell you that he is building better houses 
than ever before; the furniture dealer will tell you 
that he is shipping more furniture than ever before ; 
the manufacturer of implements and machinery will 
acknowledge that Southern progress astounds him; 
the schools report record-breaking openings; the 
newspaper subscription gains threaten to overtake 
the circulation manager's estimates; and even the 
preacher joins in with the story that for once his 
salary is paid promptly and in full, and that a ser- 
mon on foreign missions is now unprecedentedly 
effective. 

IT MEANS THE COMING OF THE NEW SOUTH 

These things cannot fail to have the most far- 
reaching influence upon every phase of Southern 
life. Prosperity will bring more education, more 
travel, greater contentment, more liberal thought — 
in fact as Sidney Lanier said nearly thirty years 
ago: 

"One has only to remember that whatever crop 
we reap in the future — whether it be a crop of 
poems, of paintings, of symphonies, of constitu- 
tional safeguards, of virtuous behaviors, of religious 
exaltations- — we have got to bring it out of the 
ground with palpable plows and with plain farmer's 
forethought, in order to see that a vital revolution 
in the farming economy of the South, if it is actu- 
ally occurring, is necessarily carrying with it all fu- 
ture Southern politics and Southern relations and 
Southern art, and that therefore such an agricul- 
tural change is the one substantial fact upon which 
any really New South can be predicted." 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF COTTON GROWERS AND WHAT 
IT MAY ACCOMPLISH 

"The great secret of success," said Lord Beacons- 
field, "is to be ready when your opportunity comes." 

One might go far and not find a better illustra- 
tion of the truth of Disraeli's assertion than is af- 
forded by the career of Hon. Harvie Jordan, 
President of the Southern Cotton Association. His 
opportunity came in December, 1904, when the 
Government ginners' report, indicating a crop of 
12,000,000 bales, startled the country — electrified 
the bears, and hopelessly dazed the bulls. Cotton 
prices went toppling, dropping two cents a pound 
almost immediately. 

WHEN HARVIE JORDAN'S OPPORTUNITY CAME 

For several years Jordan had been fitting himself 
for a time like this. At the head of the nominal 
Cotton Growers' Protection Association which he 
had organized and which his personality had largely 
kept together, his voice had been as that of one cry- 
ing in the wilderness; and always, Raven-like, his 
song had borne one burden — the need of a farmers' 
organization for the purposes of self protection. 
When the crash came, and turned everything in 
the Southern States topsy-turvy, serene Harvie 

(58) 



COTTON 59 

Jordan sounded the same bugle-note which South- 
ern farmers had hitherto refused to heed. 

Now they heard him. 

A call was issued for a great mass meeting in 
New Orleans January 24-29, 1905. 

One of the most pathetic pictures in history is that 
of the faithful remnant of the old French nobility 
crowding around poor King Louis when his star 
had almost set, thrilled again by a deep loyalty to 
the ancient throne then tottering, and passionately 
swearing allegiance once more to their hapless 
king, while the touching strains of "Richard, My 
Richard, All the World is Leaving Thee!" floated 
through the ill-fated Parisian palace. 

It was with some such earnest loyalty, but with 
confidence the exact opposite of the French despair, 
that the followers of King Cotton met in New Or- 
leans that January day. What they said and did 
it is not our purpose to record here in detail. They 
did resolve that the South should reduce her acreage 
20 per cent, as compared with the previous year, 
and they organized the Southern Cotton Associa- 
tion to carry this resolution into effect. 

With a manifest overproduction, with cotton 
selling at the time for six or seven cents, and with 
five-cent prices confidently predicted by the bear 
leaders of the New York Cotton Exchange, it took 
considerable courage for the New Orleans Cotton 
Convention to declare that the remainder of the 
1904! crop should be held for ten cents. 

Such a resolution, however, was almost unani- 
mously adopted. And within six months the ten 
cent figure was reached — largely as a result of the 
success of the movement for reducing the cotton 
acreage. 



60 COTTON 

HOW ORGANIZATION HELPED ACREAGE REDUCTION 

It is easy to say, of course, that cotton prices hav- 
ing become unsatisfactory, the cotton acreage would 
have been reduced without the aid of the Cotton As- 
sociation; but it would certainly not have been re- 
duced to such an extent. For if the farmer in the 
Carolinas had felt that the farmer in Texas was re- 
ducing his acreage on account of low prices, the 
Carolina farmer would have thought it a good time 
to increase his own crop — and vice versa. For "that 
air same Jones" who figures in Sidney Lanier's 
poem is but the type of thousands and thousands of 
cotton growers; and we all recall how he read the 
argimients for reducing cotton acreage and diversi- 
fying crops — 

And presently says he: " Hit's true; 

That Aisley's head is level. 
Thar's one thing farmers all must do, 
To keep themselves from goin' tew 

Bankruptcy and the devil ! 

" More corn ! more corn ! must plant less ground. 
And mustn't eat what's boughten I 
Next year they'll do it : reasonin's sound : 
(And cotton '11 fetch 'bout a dollar a pound,) 
Tharfore, I'll plant all cotton I " 

With Texas and Carolina alike pledged to a 25 
per cent, reduction, however, and with each section 
feeling in honor bound not to take treacherous ad- 
vantage of its neighbor's fidelity, the cotton farmers 
of the South were moved by a common purpose, 
worked together earnestly to a common end — 
and succeeded. When we attended the meeting 
of the Southern Cotton Association in Asheville in 
the fall of 1905, not ten cents, but eleven cents, was 
fixed as the price of the crop then maturing. 



COTTON 61 

DEMORALIZING CHANGES IN PRICES 

If it had no other object the organization of the 
cotton farmers would find ample justification in 
the opportunity it affords for co-operation in keep- 
ing the cotton acreage limited to the apparent de- 
mands of commerce. 

Very large and very small crops are alike demor- 
alizing to every cotton interest. These lead to 
fluctuations in value which make the manufacturer's 
hair turn gray as he tries to fix a fair price for his 
product, and which make the cotton farmer the prey 
of speculators and the sport of chance. 

Take the difference between seventeen-cent 
prices in May, 1904, and seven-cent prices in Janu- 
aiy, 1905, eight months later, meaning on a 10,- 
000,000 bale crop the difference between $350,- 
000,000 and $850,000,000. 

The remedy for all this lies in a more systematic 
plan of marketings — ^the entire cotton crop must not 
be rushed pell-mell upon the market in the ninety 
days of the picking and ginning season. Almost 
invariably prices the following spring are very 
much better than during the fall; and this is natural, 
— in fact, inevitable. 

BUYERS MAKE FALL PURCHASES ONLY WITH ODDS IN 
THEIR FAVOR 

If he must buy during the picking season before 
the size of the crop becomes known, the spinner 
buys on the assimiption that the larger estimates of 
yield are correct — and he must then allow himself 
a full margin of safety, else it were better to keep 
his money employed in something else and buy later 
with less risk and with less outlay. 



62 COTTON 

In a word, it would be bad business, an unsound 
economic policy, for buyers to take cotton while 
the size of the crop is uncertain except upon the 
basis of the maximum reasonable estimates — which 
must in any given series of years be materially 
higher than the correct estimates. 

Selling in the fall, therefore, the cotton farmer 
must dispose of his crop with the knowledge that 
the odds are against him, and that the buyer could 
not alFord to take a supply of millions of bales in 
excess of his inmiediate needs, if the odds were not 
in the buyer's favor. 

MORE EEGULAR MARKETING SURE TO COME 

Whatever plans may be discussed, the one essen- 
tial, fundamental thing in marketing is more regu- 
lar distribution of sales ; and even if the warehous- 
ing system does not become general, cotton growers 
are likely to break away very rapidly from the old 
plan of selling cotton as fast as harvested. In the 
first place, every "lien farmer," every farmer with 
a mortgaged crop, has had to put his cotton on the 
market immediately. This class, as has been said, 
is now rapidly decreasing. Then, too, other farm- 
ers, hard pressed by adversity in the period of low 
prices, were unable to hold their product, even if 
confident of a rising market later on. With better 
prices, therefore, inevitably comes greater freedom 
and more gradual marketing. 

LEAVING COTTON EXPOSED TO THE WEATHER 

If there is anything more foolish than the policy 
of rushing the entire crop upon an unwilling mar- 
ket in the ninety days of the ginning season, it is 
the way we handle the little cotton we decide not to 
sell during these ninety days. It has been said — 



COTTON 63 

and with too much truth — that the average farmer 
takes no more care of his baled cotton than if it were 
a grindstone. "But," said Mr. J. T. Dargan, of 
Atlanta, at the New Orleans Cotton Convention, 
"the farmer is not so big a fool as you think in leav- 
ing his cotton out in the open on the farm. It is not 
only safe there under his eye, but, if it rains too 
much, he can put it under a cheap frame shed in- 
stead of taking it to town to pay storage charges 
to the warehouseman, unless he can get more bene- 
fits than now exist with the average cotton ware- 
house. What is more important to the cotton 
grower is, he has long since known that a bale of 
cotton will lose some ten or fifteen pounds by drying 
out if stored in a warehouse in comparison to when 
it is left in the open vv^ith a few planks under it to 
keep it out of the mud. Then, again, bright sunny 
weather as a rule prevails in the South until about 
Christmas, by which time most of the cotton grow- 
er's cotton has been sold to the spot cotton buyers 
in town. The farmer does not mean to act fraudu- 
lently by letting his cotton remain in the open to 
absorb moisture, but as some farmers do it, others 
are in self-defense compelled to follow suit, and I 
don't blame him for it at all, for he increases there- 
by the weight of his cotton and saves storage 
charges." 

This assertion of Mr. Dargan's, however, does 
not affect our contention as to the folly of leaving 
cotton out in the weather; it only shifts the folly 
from the farmer's shoulders to those of the buyer 
who does not take the dampness and damage into 
his reckoning when buying the staple. 

More and more, however, buyers are now coming 
to an appreciation of this fact ; and the advantages 



64 COTTON 

of storing cotton in dry places is recognized by the 
payment of higher prices — both on account of the 
better fiber and on account of the fact that with the 
dry cotton the buyer knows he is purchasing cotton, 
while in the latter case, it is a mixture of cotton with 
an extra quantity of moisture. A Charlotte paper, 
we believe, recently estimated the season's loss to 
its farmers by reason of damaged cotton at $25,000 
— and this on a comparatively small market. 



NOT A LOW PRICE, BUT A STABLE PRICE, NEEDED BY 
THE MANUFACTURER 

The organization of cotton farmers, there- 
fore, means chiefly a better regulated acreage and a 
better regulated system of marketing; and greater 
stability in prices is the chief good to be derived 
from each of these. To have cotton prices ranging 
from five to fifteen cents in a decade, is manifestly 
demoralizing to every interest dependent upon the 
staple; a uniform price of ten cents would be 
vastly more helpful to all of them. To the cotton 
manufacturer it matters little whether the prices 
are high or low ; his profits are perhaps greater when 
cotton is fairly high. But what he does need is a 
fairly stable price so that he may take an order for 
manufactured goods months ahead with some idea 
as to what price he must ask in order to have a 
fair margin of profit. With the price of raw 
material ranging from seven to seventeen cents in 
eight months, as we have seen that it actually did 
a short time ago, it is of course impossible to make 
such an advance calculation with any degree of 
accuracy. 



THE WORLD S ANNUAL COTTON CONSUMPTION. 



Countries. . 


1904-05. 

Bales. 
3,588,000 
5,148,000 


1903-04. 
Bales. 
3,017,000 
5,148,000 


1902-03. 

Bales. 

3,185,000 

.5,148,000 


1901-02. 
Bales. 
3,253,000 




4,836,000 








8,736,000 

2,193,937 
2,116,318 


8,165,000 

2,000,954 
1,907,548 


8,333,000 

2,047,801 
1,967,300 


8,089,000 




2,207,175 


United States— South 


1,830,157 


Total, United States 


4,310.255 

1,850,000 

875,000 
130,000 
70,000 


8,908,502 

1,244,992 

516,000 
88,534 
55,500 


4,015,101 

1,322,608 
566,644 
117,614 
59,215 


4,037,333 




1,383,790 




726,454 




117.3*4 




31,524 






Total, India, etc 


2,425,000 
35,000 


1,904,926 
82,000 


8,066,081 


3,259,152 


Other countries, etc 


29,424 


Total, world 


15,506,255 
298,197 


14,010,428 
269,431 


14,486,589 
277,631 


14,414,908 




277.210 







WORLD S CONSUMPTION OF COTTON. 





Europe 


United States 


'•3 

c 

1 


s 

a 
a 

1—1 


a 
O 

< 




CONSUMPTION 

500-pound Bales 

000s omitted 


5S 


c 
c 



o 

u 


3 




a 

o 
•A 







01 

I 


18S4-S5 


2,746 
2,902 
2,955 
3,073 
^,016 
3,227 


2,604 
2,772 
2,912 
3,037 
3,256 
3,432 


5.350 
5.674 
5,867 
6.110 
6,272 
6.659 


1,286 
1,512 
1,578 
1,624 
1,704 
1,682 


241 
310 
361 
400 
444 
503 


1,527 
1,822 
1,939 
2,024 
2,148 
2,185 


467 
504 
569 
617 
697 
791 


100 
120 
130 
140 
150 
160 


7,444 


1885-86 


8,130 


1886-87 


8,505 


1887-88 


8,891 


1888-89 


9.267 


1889 90 


9,795 






Average 6 years. . 
1890-91 


2,986 

3,384 
3,181 
2,866 
3,233 
3,250 
3,276 


8,002 

8,631 
8,619 
3,661 
3,827 
4.030 
4.160 


5.988 

7,015 
6,800 
6.527 
7,060 
7,280 
7,4.) 


1,564 

1,810 
1.944 
1,872 
1,593 
1,940 
1,711 


377 

557 
632 
679 

671 
803 
861 


1,941 

2,367 
2,576 
2,551 
2,264 
2,743 
2,572 


607 

924 
914 
918 
959 
1,074 
1,105 


1 

99 
150 
200 
193 
286 
363 


106 
125 
195 
105 
160 
139 


8,670 
10,511 


1891-92 

1892-93 


10,565 
10,291 


1893 94 


10,580 


1894-95 


11,543 


1895-96 


11,605 






Averai^e 6 years. . 
1896 97 


3,198 

3,224 
3,432 


3,821 

4,368 
4,628 
4,784 
4,576 
4,576 
4,83ti 


7,019 

7,5V2 
8,060 
8,303 
7,910 
7,845 
8,089 


1,812 

i,:,-6 

1,808 
2,244 
3,3.55 
2,150 
3,307 


700 

962 
1,154 
1,309 
1,501 
1,577 
1,880 


2.512 

3,738 
2,962 
3,553 

3,856 
3,737 
4,037 


983 

1,004 
1,141 
1,314 
1,139 
1,060 
1,384 


215 

414 
534 
703 
711 
632 
726 


120 

132 
191 
142 
157 
152 
179 


10,849 
11.880 


1897 98 


12,888 


1898-99 


3,519 
3,334 
3,269 
3,253 


14,015 


1899-00 


13,773 


1900-01 


13,416 


1901-02 


14,415 


Average 6 years.. 
1902-03 


3,339 

3,185 
3,017 
3.588 


4,628 

5,148 
5,148 
5,148 


7,967 

8,333 
8,165 
8,736 


2,089 

2,048 
2,001 
2,194 


1.389 

1,967 
1,907 
2,116 


3,478 

4,015 
3,908 
4,310 


1,174 

1,333 
1,245 
1,350 


680 

567 
516 

875 


159 

199 
176 
235 


13,398 

14,437 


1903-04* 


14,010 


1904-05* 


15,506 







COTTON ST.VTISTICS. 

(Courtesy of Latham, .\lexan(ler & Co. ) 



COTTON 65 

CONSERVATISM IN COTTON ASSOCIATION DEMANDS 

On the whole, the cotton farmers' organization 
does not seem inclined to be unreasonable in its 
demands. Attending its meetings, we have been 
most impressed by the marked conservatism of its 
members generally. President Harvie Jordan is 
on record as saying: 

"It will be the part of wisdom for all cotton 
producers to discourage speculative interests that 
would tend to drive the price of spot cotton above 
twelve cents a pound, just as it is imperative that 
no farmer should ever again sell a pound of 
middling cotton under ten cents per pound. Let 
us not encourage inflated prices that will hamper 
the mills, curtail consumption of cotton, and en- 
courage the growth of this staple in foreign fields. 
We hold a complete monopoly of the cotton indus- 
try of the world up to twelve cents a pound, and at 
that price good profits to the producer can be 
realized. " 

This quotation may seem to be at a variance 
with Mr. Jordan's advice late in 1905, urging 
farmers to hold the remainder of their crop for 
fifteen cents, but Mr. Jordan declares that he was 
consistent in that the average price for the entire 
crop would still have been less than twelve cents, 
and this on a short crop. 

REDUCING PRODUCTION OR INCREASING DEMAND ? 

Another way in which the South's cotton growers 
may accomplish much good for themselves through 
organization, is by working together to develop our 
foreign markets. Civilization demands, as we 
have seen, that the world consume 42,000,000 bales 



66 COTTON 

of cotton. The prices of wool and silk are prohibi- 
tive. Only cotton can fill the requirements of 
cheapness, and the world is yet only half clothed. 
Says Lieut. Richmond Pearson Hobson: 

"I have had a great many Chinamen who worked 
under my directions, and whose work I inspected 
from day to day, while they were building gun- 
boats, and if they were doing that work for you, I 
would judge the wages of such hard-working men 
to be about forty to fifty cents a day. Now I 
investigated this matter thoroughly, and as far 
as I could get any information, I found the real 
wages of these men to be about five cents a day. 
Their families are large, and, of course, they can't 
afford too much for food, clothing or anything else; 
and what is the result.^ The average Chinaman 
wears about half a suit of clothes. They are cotton, 
for they don't wear silk over there. It's a mistake 
to say it is silk, for only the Mandarins can wear 
silk. Now there were many of these coolies, 
who would come down from the interior, whom 
I saw working on these gun-boats, and pretty 
soon I would see one come down with a whole suit 
on. That wasn't all. It got a little colder, and I 
found that same coolie before long would come 
down with two suits of clothes on, the second 
pulled over the first. Later, he would come down 
with three, four, five, six and seven, the last suit 
(the sixth or the seventh) made of cotton, so that 
when you saw him coming down the street, he looked 
like a walking cotton bale." 

When China wakes up, therefore, we are likely 
to find an enormously increased demand for our 
cotton crop in this one country. Properly civi- 
lized, China alone, says Lieut. Hobson, with its 
430,000,000 people, would consume the present 



COTTON 67 

cotton crop of the world. Or to put it more 
forcefully, we may quote the now famous remark 
of Mr. Wu Ting Fang to Senator McLaurin of 
South Carolina: "If my people wore cotton like 
they do in America, and every Chinaman should 
add one inch to his shirt it would consume the 
entire cotton crop of the South. " 

And China is not the only country where there 
are vast opportunities for increasing our cotton 
trade. We should decrease our cotton supply, 
when it becomes necessary, but a worthier task 
is to try to increase the demand, and thereby help 
civilize and uplift other nations as well as benefit 
ourselves. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



STOPPING THE LEAKS IN COTTON PROFITS 

It is not true, as a distinguished authority has 
charged, that our general methods of growing and 
handling cotton are "as bad as can be;" but it is 
true that they are susceptible of vast improvement, 
and that enormous leaks in cotton profits are yet 
to be stopped. Perhaps the most serious menace 
to cotton farming at tnis time is the boll weevil, 
but as that subject is reserved for a later chapter, 1 
shall not discuss it here. 

One of the greatest leaks that any industry has 
ever known was the utter waste of cottonseed for a 
hundred years. Cottonseed used to be regarded 
as of so little use, in fact so much in the way, that 
cotton gins within the last two generations have 
been built over streams in order that the seed 
might be easily washed away! In some States 
laws have actually been passed requiring ginners, 
for the sake of the public health, to remove the 
rotting piles of waste seed! 

$100,000,000 FROM A PRODUCT ONCE THOUGHT 
WORSE THAN WORTHLESS 

Now the raw cottonseed are worth nearly $100, 
000,000, or about one-fifth the value of the cotton 

(63) 



COTTON 69 

crop, and so rapidly are we finding new uses for 
them — all of which will be considered at greater 
length in other chapters in this book — that Mr. 
Edward Atkinson was probably not far wrong 
when he declared that it would be worth while for 
the South to grow great crops of cotton, even if the 
plant made no lint at all but seed only. How 
varied are the uses of cottonseed — meal, oil, hulls 
and linters — has been suggested in the Introduction 
to this volume. 

The great trouble is that in the new awakening 
to the enormous value of cottonseed as a fertilizer, 
we have not yet come to a proper appreciation of 
their value as a feed also; for, in fact, we may 
feed them and still get three-fourths of their fertil- 
izing value in the manure from the animals. How 
unusually nutritious they are as a food may be 
guessed from the fact that for feeding purposes 
100 pounds of cottonseed equals in value 116 
pounds corn, and 100 pounds cottonseed meal 
equals 175 pounds corn. Cottonseed at 25 cents 
a bushel or cottonseed meal at $25 a ton is as 
cheap as corn at 40 cents a bushel. 

The folly, therefore, of burying this most val- 
uable of cattle feeds — burying it unused to rot in 
the soil — must be apparent to all. What should 
we think of using wheat bran or corn meal as a 
fertilizer for cotton without first having our live 
stock extract its feeding value.? Yet in the one 
State in which the authors live, about $3,000,000 
worth of cottonseed meal is used as a fertilizer— 
which means that $2,500,000 in feeding values 
goes to nothing, and is a dead loss to our agricul- 
tural interests. 



70 COTTON 

FEEDING VALUE OF COTTONSEED NOT YET 
APPRECIATED 

Moreover, we are learning more and more each 
year of the feeding values of cottonseed meal — 
learning how to combine it with other feeds and 
feed in larger proportions to different classes of 
stock. In fact, its use as a human food has been 
seriously contemplated, a thoughtful journal re- 
cently declaring that "if cotton grew in Michigan, 
Battle Creek would be marketing a hundred 
thousand tons of the cottonseed meal mixed with 
wheat flour and put up in pound packages . It would 
be advertised, and with truth, as the only complete 
ration for the human race. A pound of cottonseed 
meal contains all the elements necessary for whole- 
some, nutritious bread; it contains three times as 
much digestible protein as the highest grade of 
wheat flour or the best oatmeal; it contains twice 
as much oil as oatmeal and ten times as much oil 
as wheat flour." 

Whether or not we shall ever have cottonseed 
meal breakfast food, the fact remains that in using 
it as a fertilizer we are wasting millions in animal 
feeding values every year — and this is one great 
leak in cotton profits we shall eventually learn to 
stop. 

WASTEFUL TO BUY NITROGENOUS FERTILIZERS 

We are also wasting millions of dollars for the 
purchase of nitrogenous fertilizers, when the cow 
pea might be made to keep our Southern soils 
abundantly supplied with this most costly of all 
fertilizing ingredients. Making a rough guess we 
should say that the farmers in the Carolinas and 



COTTON 71 

Georgia spend at least $8,000,000 a year for 
commercial nitrogen, when a proper system of 
rotation, including leguminous crops, would abun- 
dantly supply the soil with this ingredient. 

And this is Leak No. 2 which we can stop and 
thereby transfer millions to the credit side of 
King Cotton's ledger. 

THE BARBAROUS SAW GIN DESTROYS MILLIONS IN 
COTTON VALUES 

There has been no noteworthy improvement in 
the cotton gin since the new-born idea was first 
worked out by Eli Whitney; and our baling methods 
are also notoriously inefficient. " It is contended,' ' 
says Mr. Thomas P. Grasty, "that the saw gin 
actually wastes or destroys over 6 per cent, of all the 
cotton raised in the Southern States — meaning the 
destruction each year of nearly $40,000,000 worth 
of property belonging to the farmers of the South. " 
By its rough handling it is also asserted by the 
highest authorities, that the saw gin destroys over 
40 per cent, of the initial strength of the cotton 
fiber. No wonder one of our American cotton 
specialists is on record as declaring cotton to be 

the most barbarously handled commercial prod- 
uct in the world." Besides the waste, the de- 
struction of fiber, and the lack of uniformity in 
size of bales, gins at present are able to pack 
cotton at the average density of only fourteen 
pounds per cubic foot. Every bale not sold to 
local mills, therefore, must be sent to some cotton 
compress and the size reduced two-thirds before 
it can be exported. 

A fortune awaits the man who will invent a 
compress requiring small horse power, so that the 



72 COTTON 

bales with one handling at the gin may be com- 
pressed tightly enough for export purposes; just 
as a fortune awaits the man who will invent a 
roller gin for upland cotton or any other econom- 
ical plan by which the present wastes and the 
barbarous laceration of the fiber may be obviated. 
With American inventive talent put to this task, 
we may hope before many years to stop this drain 
on the wealth of the cotton farmer. 

MARKETING AND EXPORTING THE CROP 

Another waste in former days was in marketing 
the crop, but here there has been in recent years a 
marvellous gain in directness and economy. For- 
merly the farmer sold to his merchant at the county 
seat; the merchant at the county seat sold to the 
commission merchant at the State capital; the 
commission merchant sold to the dealer at the 
seaport; the seaport dealer sold to the New York 
exporter; the New York exporter sold to Liverpool, 
and Liverpool sold to Manchester. Now all this 
is changed — how greatly changed will be seen from 
the report of a cotton exporting house which 
handles more than 300,000 bales each season, 
"The cotton is now bought on the plantations or 
at the railway stations throughout the whole 
Cotton Belt by the representatives of large exporting 
houses and by the mills," said the manager of this 
house to us the other day. "Our firm employs 
more than 100 buyers for this purpose, and the 
cotton is shipped daily to the port where it is 
expeditiously sampled, classified, weighed, com- 
pressed and loaded upon ships for foreign ports 
with almost incredible swiftness. We have had a 
train loaded with cotton fifty miles from port at 
7 a.m., and at 7 p.m. of the same day it has been 




SOUTHERN VIEWS. 

Good roads make cotton transportation easy; the second picture indicates the 
negro's easy habits; the third view is that of a typical old-fashioned Southern "Big- 
house." 





MORE SCENES FROM DIXIE. 

The patient ox has not been entirely discarded, as the top picture testifies; the 
second is a warehouse view. 



COTTON 78 

stored on board a foreign ship and bills of exchange 
drawn and negotiated!" 

In view of these facts we may regard this leak in 
the export trade as belonging to the past rather 
than to the present. 

SHIPPING 60% OF OUR COTTON TO EUROPE 

Lastly we come to what is perhaps the greatest 
leak of all — ^not to the cotton farmer solely, but to 
the Cotton Belt. We are still shipping 60 per cent, 
of our cotton to Europe — almost as uneconomic, 
as has been said, as it would be to ship our iron ore 
instead of turning it into the finished product here. 

And in view of the leaks we are to stop and the 
great resultant savings that are to enrich the South, 
and in view of the prospective remedying of this 
last great leak, we cannot better conclude this 
chapter than by quoting an extract from an address 
by Mr. Richard H. Edmonds, of the Manufac- 
turer's Record, delivered in New York City a few 
months ago — not a mere day dream, a flight of 
fancy, but a prediction of what actually bids fair to 
come to pass within the lifetime of most of those 
who read this article: 

*' It is not to be expected that the South will ever 
manufacture its entire cotton production, for, when 
it has reached the point where it consumes in its 
own mills the 10,500,000 bales which now measure 
its average crop, the world will be demanding of 
it, and it will meet the world's demands for, 
probably 20,000,000 bales. But the utilization in 
its own mills of 10,000,000 bales would mean the 
employment of 1,000,000 operatives, the invest- 
ment in mills, textile machinery, building plants and 
kindred enterprises, of not less than $2,000,000,000 



74 COTTON 

and the annual output would be worth $2,000,- 
000,000. 

"Then, indeed, would the South, without mon- 
opolizing the world's cotton manufacturing in- 
terests, be the dominant factor, the center of the 
world's cotton mill business, producing 20,000,000 
bales and consuming at home in its own mills 
10,000,000 bales. 

"Both will come about in due time. The South 
sees before it this prize, rich beyond words to 
describe, creating wealth beyond anything which 
this section or any other section has known, and 
this is the prize — a prize great enough to enrich an 
empire — ^for which it has entered the race. That 
it will win admits of no question." 



SECTION II. 

THE COTTON PLANT— HOW IT GROWS 
AND IS GROWN 



(75) 



CHAPTER IX. 

STRUCTURE AND BOTANICAL RELATIONS 

The several species of every plant or animal 
known to man have been properly classified and 
grouped. It has required untold labor and pains 
through years and centuries to make this important 
contribution to the total sum of knowledge, but 
the result is well worth the effort it has cost. 

A discussion of the causes that have entered into 
the production of families, species and varieties 
would not be in place here, but some of them are so 
interesting and so intimately concerned with the 
development and improvement of the cotton plant 
as to make it necessary to consider them briefly. 

The cotton plant is a member of the Malvaceae 
or mallow family, and to scientists is known by 
the generic name Gossypium. The plant is given 
to much variation, and a very large number of 
varieties are the result. Differences in soil, in 
climate, and in environment have been the primary 
factors in producing these variations. 

INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY 

In the perpetuation of any plant or animal the 
importance of heredity is recognized by all. It is, 
in fact, the keeper of all that has gone before. 
Good or evil, helpful or harmful, its influence is to 

(77) 



78 COTTON 

hand down to the future race all the life of the past. 
Like surely begets like. Offspring of either plant 
or animal inherit the essential characteristics that 
were a vital part of the parental stock. These 
inherited characteristics, however, are always sub- 
ject to change as a result of change in environment. 

If any plant or animal were confined to a par- 
ticular soil, feeding on the same food, and with un- 
varying climatic conditions, then all members of 
the tribe or species would grow more and more 
similar in type, form, and quality. Only in non- 
essentials would differences appear. 

The American deer, for example, grown under 
the same conditions of habit, food and climate, for 
so long a time, has developed the most remarkable 
uniformity. Only the most careful observer is 
able to note individual peculiarities of form, color, 
or outline. 

Let the American breeder take this same animal 
and place it under a new environment, and a change 
will be noticed very early in his breeding operations. 
This change of environment gives the law known 
as variation an opportunity to show its power and 
influence. 

The cotton plant has been subjected to this 
change in environment. We can neither tell you 
when nor how it happened. Mere conjecture 
would suggest only a starting point. Still the fact 
remains that cotton was early known in India, 
Egypt, Corea, China, South America, and the 
Lesser Antilles. How the plant got to any of these 
countries no one knows, and possibly no one will 
ever know. The important fact is this : there are 
great differences in soil, climate, and environment 
between China and South America, between India 
and the South Sea Islands, between Egypt and 



COTTON 79 

China; and these very differences have given rise 
to the many kinds and varieties of cotton we know 
to-day. 

Besides the factors above considered as inlQuen- 
cing the tendency to variation, the cotton plant 
responds perhaps more freely than any other cul- 
tivated plant to ameliorated conditions of soil, 
climate, and cultivation. 

THE COTTON PLANT 

To understand its characteristics you must know 
the cotton plant itself. Its weed, flower, fiber, seed 
and growth are interesting — each and every one. 

In growth the stalk assumes a herbaceous, 
shrubby, or tree-like form. None but these her- 
baceous, shrub-like forms are grown to any extent 
in this country. You will find the larger and tree- 
like varieties grown occasionally, but only as 
curiosities, since with them the low mean tem- 
perature of the Cotton Belt is unfavorable to the 
production of lint of any commercial value. 

The cotton plant of the Southern States is a 
small annual shrub from two to four feet in height, 
always branching extensively. The limbs are 
longest at the bottom of the stalk, and short and 
light at the top, this top growth in all parts of the 
South usually being arrested by frost. The flowers 
are white, or pale yellow or cream colored the first 
day, become darker and redder the second day, and 
fall to the ground on the third or fourth day, leaving 
a tiny boll developed in the calyx. This boll 
develops and enlarges until maturity when it is 
not unlike the size and shape of a hen's egg. 
When matured, the boll cracks and opens the three 
to six apartments which hold the seed and the 



80 COTTON 

fibrous wool known as lint that is now to be gather 
ed, ginned, and baled. This lint, when separated 
from the seed becomes the cotton of commerce. 

COMMERCIAL TYPES 

The types of cotton chiefly known in a com- 
mercial way are Gossypium Barbadense or Sea 
Island Cotton, Gossypium Herbaceum or Upland 
Cotton, Gossypium HirsutuTn, also Upland Cot- 
ton, Gossypium Arboreum or Tree Cotton, and 
Gossypium Neglectum or Indian Cotton. 

SEA ISLAND COTTON {Gossypium Barbadense) 

This species is one of the most important grown 
and is cultivated most extensively along the coast 
of South Carolina, and in Georgia and Florida, 
and the off -lying Islands. 

The amount of lint produced is less than from 
Upland Cotton, but it sells for a higher price on 
account of its longer staple and better quality. 

** Yarns having the finest counts, as they are 
called, are all spun from Sea Island." It has been 
shown that a single pound of Sea Island Cotton can 
be spun into a thread 160 miles in length. The 
acreage devoted to this species is small, consequent- 
ly Sea Island Cotton influences the market yield 
but little. 

UPLAND COTTON (Gossypium Herbaceum) 

This is of Asiatic origin, adapted to upland, and 
has its botanical name from the character of its 
growth. 

India is supposed to be the original home of the 
herbaceous type, but it has spread extensively until 
it is known in China, Arabia, Persia, and Africa. 



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HOLDING FOR BETTER ITIICES. 

Many farmers now refuse to sell in the rush of ginning season, but store and hold 
in the hope of Retting better prices. Many of the storage warehouses are of enor- 
mous capacity. 



COTTON 81 

The vine cotton of Cuba belongs to this species, 
and is peculiar because of its large pods and ex- 
cessive number of seeds. The Long Staple Upland 
Cotton grown in America belongs to this species. 

UPLAND COTTON (fiossij'pium Hirsutum) 

The hairy nature of every part of the plant gives 
this species its name. 

It is not greatly different from the Sea Island 
group of cotton; in fact it is claimed by some to be 
an offspring of the Sea Island. Generally thought 
to have originated in Mexico, it has now been car- 
ried to all parts of the world. In a sense it is a 
Short Staple Upland Cotton, and to this species 
belong nearly all the American types. 

TREE COTTON (Gossypium Arboretum) 

Its tall-growing and tree-like proportions sug- 
gested the name for this India-bred species. In 
height it is often as much as twenty feet. The 
fiber is short and fine, and clings very tenaciously 
to the seeds. 

No varieties of this kind are grown on this con- 
tinent for commercial purposes, and not even in 
India, where it is principally cultivated, is it a very 
valuable type of cotton. There it is said to be 
perennial, lasting five or six years or more, and is 
never used as a field crop. 

INDIAN OR BUSH COTTON (Gossypium Neglectum) 

This species is also indigenous to India where it 
is extensively grown as a field crop. The boll is 



82 COTTON 

small in size and contains only a small number of 
seeds. 

It is said that the beautiful Dacca Cotton, from 
which the famous muslins are made, is of the 
Neglectum type, and so are the varieties from 
which the long cloth of Madras is manufactured. 

THE COTTON FIBER 

The commercial grading of cotton depends al- 
most entirely on the ripeness, length, and fineness 
of the cotton fiber. The long, fine, silky fibers of 
the Sea Island varieties command the highest price, 
while the native Indian and Short Upland staple of 
America represent the lowest market values. 

The following table arranged by Evans shows 
the average length and average diameter of the 
staple of some of our best known varieties : 

LENGTH AND DIAMETER OF PRINCIPAL COTTON 

FIBERS 

Av. Length Av. Diam. 

Variety of Staple of Staple 

Sea Island 1.61 .000640 

New Orleans 1 . 02 . 000775 

Texas 1 .00 .000763 

Upland 93 .000763 

Egyptian 1.41 . 000655 

Native Indian 89 . 000844 

You will see in glancing at the above table that 
the longer the staple the less is its diameter, a fact 
which must always be kept in mind in any ex- 
periments looking to the selection and improve- 
ment of the cotton plant. 



COTTON 83 

When the cotton fiber reaches maturity it as- 
sumes a tubelike appearance, somewhat irregular 
and flattened. 

Three classes of fibers are always found in every 
picking — unripe, half-ripe, and ripe. Of course 
the time of picking influences the relative percent- 
ages of each, though late picking of seed cotton will 
not entirely overcome the difficulty, since these 
three are differences in maturity of the filaments 
on different parts of the same seed. 

Unripe cotton is thin and transparent, has little 
or no twist, and has little use in manufacture. 
This explains why cotton picked too early com- 
mands a lower price at the warehouse. 

THE COTTON BOLL 

The boll is the house of seed and lint. In it are 
from three to five apartments or cells (often more 
than five in improved types) which hold the com- 
mercial product from the earliest formation of the 
lint after blooming until it is picked in the fall. 

As the seed and lint increase in size and quantity, 
the boll likewise enlarges to accommodate its grow- 
ing interior. When maturity is reached the 
doors of the apartment rooms open, lint and seed 
expand, and present the beautiful white, silky 
wool that is soon to be gathered and stored. 

It is a picture indeed, the full cotton field, white 
with its open bolls and ready for the harvest hands. 
The plant and the planters have almost ended 
their work, and the world now awaits the result 
not without interest. The pickers are in the field, 
early and late, gathering the white "tree wool" as 
fast as their hands can pluck it from the bolls. 
Here and there all about the picked territory, are 



84 COTTON 

seen the snowy piles of gathered product, ready for 
the owner to weigh and store in some sheltered 
place. Cotton picking time has come again, and 
spmners and consumers in every quarter of the 
earth listen with eagerness for news of the South's 
great annual harvest! 



CHAPTER X. 

VARIETIES OF COTTON AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION 

In a previous chapter we have discussed the 
tendency of all plants and animals to vary from 
normal characteristics when removed to new fields, 
different climates, and changed conditions of 
environment. The cotton plant is especially sus- 
ceptible to all influences, to such an extent, in fact, 
that in our country alone there are now more than 
one hundred and fifty varieties listed. Of course 
not all of these are true varieties. Often a variety 
will have one or more names even in the same 
territory. This state of affairs is confusing and 
undesirable, but it is not peculiar to the cotton 
crop. With corn and wheat, in fact with all the 
prominent crops grown in America, we have the 
same difficulty, the same multiplicity of names. 

This condition usually arises from the fact that 
a new character, differing from the normal, is 
seen in the plant, leading the grower to think that 
he is justified in giving the variety a new name. 
With the cotton plant the change may lie in the 
direction of increased length and fineness of fiber; 
increased yield of lint, or seed, or both; early or 
late maturing qualities; a superior character in 
boll, or a change in physical growth. Still it 
matters not how superior a new character may be, 
a local name is not justified until that special 



86 COTTON 

feature is fixed as a different characteristic of this 
species in the cotton race. When that fact has 
been established it is altogether proper for the new 
variety to have a new name, just as we should give 
a new name to a new kind of apple. 

A SIMPLE CLASSIFICATION 

The simplest classification of Upland varieties 
that we have seen has been made by Professor 
Duggar of Alabama. He makes seven distinct 
groups as follows: 

1. Cluster, or Dickson Type. 

2. Semi-Cluster, or Peerless Type. 

3. Rio Grande, or Peterkin Type. 

4. Short Limb, or King Type. 

5. Big Boll, or Duncan Type. 

6. Long Limb Upland, or Petit Gulf Type. 

7. Long Staple Upland, or Allen Type. 
Such a grouping as this enables us to place a 

given variety as readily as we class horses into 
draft, coach, or roadster types. General charac- 
teristics in this manner may be readily fixed 
without confusion or difficulty. 

GROUPS OF COTTON 

Following the classification of cotton into these 
seven groups we find characteristics more or less 
peculiar to each. Of course it is not to be expected 
that classification will provide for striking lines of 
demarcation for every variety. It does not do this 
for horses. The heavy coach horse blends into 
the type of the light draft on one hand and into the 
roadster on the other. So we should expect some 
varieties of one group of cotton to merge into 



COTTOX 87 

another group by imperceptible gradation. But 
in a general way the several types may be described 
as follows: 

I. CLUSTER DICKSON TYPE 

'I 

No long limbs at base; bolls tend to grow m 
clusters; plants tall, slender, and erect; base limbs 
often'^long; and seed usually small; seed covered 
with thick fuzz, usually white in color; early 
maturing; percentage of lint from 32 to 34. 

Important Varieties of Group: 

Dickson Jackson 

Wellborn Wellborn*s Pet 

Jackson's Limbless 



II. SEMI-CLUSTER ^PEERLESS TYPE 

Base limbs of medium length, and above these 
along main stem are very short limbs; stalk erect; 
bolls more or less in clusters; seed of medium size, 
well covered with fuzz which may be whitish, 
greenish or brownish; early to medium maturing; 
percentage of lint from 29 to 35. 

Important Varieties of Group: 

Peerless Hawkins' Prolific 

Boyd Hawkins' Jumbo 

Cummings Herndon 

Drake Herndon's Select 

Deering Minor 

Norris Tyler 



88 COTTON 

III. RIO GRANDE PETERKIN TYPE 

Plants well branched and medium in size; bolls 
small; seed black, quite small and bare of fuzz 
except at tip end; medium maturing; percentage 
of lint large, usually 35. 



Important Varieties of Group: 

Peterkin Texas Wood 

Peterkin's Limb Cluster Wise 
Excelsior Texas Oak 



IV. SHORT LIMB KING TYPE 

Plants small and well branched at both base and 
top; limbs short; bolls small; seed medium in size 
and thickly covered with fuzz of brownish (and 
sometimes of greenish) shade; quite early maturing; 
percentage of lint from 32 to 34. 



Important Varieties of Group: 

King King's Improved No. 1 

Lowry King's Improved No. 2 



V. BIG BOLL DUNCAN TYPE 

Plants large, heavy and strong; well limbed at 
base, but upper limbs short; bolls very large; seeds 
large and covered with thick fuzz, whitish in color; 



COTTON 89 

late maturing generally; percentage of lint from 
29 to 34. 



Important Varieties of Group: 

Duncan Culpepper 

Banks Culpepper's Improved 

Christopher Grayson 

Truitt Russell 

Thrash Lee 

Strickland Lee's Improved No. 1 

Strickland's Improved Lee's Improved No. 2 

Coppedge Scroggins 

VI. LONG LIMB UPLAND — PETIT GULF TYPE 

Plants very large; limbs long and straggling; 
bolls medium in size and covered with fuzz of 
various shades; late maturing; percentage of lint 
30 to 32. 

Important Varieties of Group: 

Petit Gulf Cheise 

Gunn Ellis 

Ellis's Big Boll 

VII. LONG STAPLE UPLAND — ^ALLEN TYPE 

Plants large and heavy and require good moist 
soil ; lower limbs very long and open ; bolls medium 
in size, but long, slender and tapering; seed medium 
to large, covered with whitish tint of fuzz; late 
maturing; staple long; percentage of lint from 25 
to 29. 



90 COTTON 

Important Varieties of Group: 

Allen's Improved Doughty 

Allen's Hybrid Griffin 

Matthews Cobweb 

Cook Moon 

SELECTING A VARIETY 

You must exercise care and judgment in select- 
ing a variety of cotton for seed purposes. A 
variety which yields well in one place may not do so 
well with you where perhaps it may have a differ- 
ent soil and climate. A variety may stand at the 
very head one year in a comparative test with other 
varieties, but fall toward the foot the very next 
season. Seasons are not all the same, and they 
materially affect the yield of the same variety from 
year to year. You must bear this fact in mind and 
not jump at conclusions hastily. 

It is the largest quantity of seed cotton you are 
seeking, and a variety that yields uniformly well 
from year to year is a great deal better than a spec- 
tacular one that shines meteor-like when the 
season is just right. 

An honest, average yielder is always safe and re- 
liable, and can be improved by selection and care 
to suit your soil and climate and environment. In 
the end, too, it will become better and better because 
it has had time to adapt itself to the home life you 
have provided for it. It will reward you for this 
attention by obeying every reasonable demand you 
make. And these demands you have in mind 
should include : 

(1) A longer staple; (2) uniformity in length of 




VARIETIES OF COTTON. 

(A) Peerless group; (B) Peterkin Cotton; (C) Duncan group; The Peterkin is 
one of the best known varieties; the Duncan group is very large boiled. 




VARIETIES OF COTTON 

(A) Dickson type; (B) King type; (C) show; ?eed and lint of Sea Island Cot- 
ton; (D) Allen Long Staple; (E) Petit Gulf. 



COTTON 91 

fiber; (3) strength of fiber; (4) a greater yield in 
lint and seed. 

THE STAPLE SHOULD BE LONG 

If you examine the staple in several bolls of any 
variety, you will find a certain degree of variation 
in length. We all know that the longer the staple 
is, the better price we get for it. Hence, every 
cotton grower should endeavor to grow a longer 
staple. This can be done by going into the field 
and carefully examining bolls of the most promising 
appearance, selecting for seed purposes such as 
have greater length of staple than the average. 
This practice should be followed year after year, 
whatever the variety you are growing. 

FIBERS SHOULD BE OF UNIFORM LENGTH 

Cotton, like wool — ^indeed like any fiber of com- 
mercial importance — is graded according to its 
evenness and uniformity of length. And this 
practice of grading is not limited to fibers, but goes 
out in all directions and includes corn, wheat, and 
other field crops. 

Consequently seed cotton should be so selected 
that the tendency to produce fibers of uniform 
length may be bred in the plant. 

FIBER SHOULD BE STRONG 

Not only length, but strength of fiber also, is a 
most desirable quality, and should be considered 
in every operation that pertains to the improve- 
ment of any variety of cotton. The Sea Island 
type is especially noted for the quality of strength. 



92 COTTON 

and has been selected after years of careful tests 
made to develop a variety required for cloth of 
durability and strength. 

RELATIVE PERCENTAGE OF FIBER SHOULD BE 
LARGE 

An essential quality for every variety of cotton to 
possess is the ability to produce a high quantity of 
lint in proportion to seed. This quality is funda- 
mental, for lint yield is usually the first trait con- 
sidered by any grower. In fact, a particular 
variety is selected, as a rule, because of the claim 
that it is a heavy yielder. 

Careful attention, then, at the time of gathering 
and selecting seed — making constant effort to 
improve by selecting from plants with this tendency 
to increase the yield — ^will prove one of the most 
satisfactory ways of adapting the variety to your 
environments, and of rendering it reliable as the 
breed for your special purposes. 



CHAPTER XI. 

BREEDING UP THE COTTON PLANT 

The average yield of cotton in the United States 
is about 190 pounds of lint to the acre. At ten 
cents per pound the gross income from a cotton 
crop then, is only $19.00 per acre plus the value 
of seed. This is certainly none too much when you 
consider the cost of necessary fertilizing materials 
and the labor involved in all operations from 
planting to marketing. Now to increase the gross 
income, but two ways are open to us: either (1) 
increase the market price for raw cotton or (2) 
increase the number of pounds of lint and seed per 
acre. 

The latter seems to be most reasonable from an 
economic standpoint. Ten cent cotton, under 
good labor and crop conditions, is an equitable 

f)rice to both producer and consumer. A price 
ess than ten cents is unwise because it means 
hard living for growers and laborers. 

HOW IMPROVEMENT MAY BE BROUGHT ABOUT 

The problem before us then is to increase the 
production of cotton per acre. How shall this be 
done ? 

The following five reforms will help : 

(1) Improve the soil. 

(2) Get a variety suitable to your environments. 

(93) 



94 COTTON 

(3) Use improved tools and implements for all 
operations. 

(4) Manure in such a way as to promote the 
physical improvement of the soil. 

(5) Use seed that has been improved by 
selection, and continue the selection that more 
improvement may follow. 

Let us discuss the last named suggestion first, 
since seed stock is always of primary importance. 

None of us can deny the influence of good 
breeding. It is only the well selected, carefully 
bred trotter or pacer that ever makes a record on 
any race track; even in beef for our tables, a scrub 
makes a tough, insipid product; and in the dairy, 
profit comes only with carefully chosen milk cattle. 

Blood tells in men, in animals, in plants. It 
tells in cotton — ^in yield of seed and lint; in length, 
in strength, in all other desirable features of the 
fiber. 

Not to select seed with care and according to 
some definite plan, therefore, is wasteful, costly, 
unprofitable. 

A PROBLEM FOR THE INDIVIDUAL FARMER 

The day when any cotton planter can afford to 
plant just any variety of any sort of seed has truly 
passed. Good farm management in cotton grow- 
ing, as in any kind of plant or animal production, 
calls for the use of good seed only, seed possessing 
qualities desired by commerce, and the ability 
to display these qualities under the individual 
grower's special soil, climate, and conditions. 

But to get best results, you will have to investi- 

fate for yourself. The Agricultural College and 
Ixperiment Station can determine fundamental 




VARIETIES OF COTTON. 

(A, B) American Upland, Southern types; (C) Sea Island (Long Staple) Cot- 
ton; (D) Asiatic Cotton. 





ECONOMICAL AM) EXPENSIVE COTTON MAKIN(.. 

The first picture is that of planting with a slow ox — "free nigger farming" it is 
railed ; in the seconil picture we have cost of cultivation reduced to a minimum by 

improved implements. 



COTTON 95 

facts only. Their application must be worked out 
by each individual planter on his own individual 
farm. 

Nor is this difficult. You must put out of your 
mind the idea that seed selection is costly, or that 
it involves unusual labor. An axe that is sharp- 
ened is an improved axe; a plow that turns a deep 
furrow and pulverizes the soil in an efficient 
manner is better than one that does not; a hog that 
reaches maturity on a given amount of food in 
nine months is superior to one of any breed or 
class which uses an equal amount of food and 
requires ten months for maturity. So a particular 
cotton plant which shows a larger number of 
desirable characteristics than other stalks underthe 
same soil, climate, and other influences is an 
improved specimen; and it is simple waste, as has 
been said, not to use its powers to the full extent in 
furnishing seed for the next year's crop. 

SEVEN POINTS OF IMPROVEMENT 

But what are desirable qualities to be sought? 
We discussed some of these qualities in a previous 
chapter. There are, in all, the following: 

(1) Better yield of fiber 

(2) Greater length of staple 

(3) More uniformity in length 

(4) Greater strength in fiber 

(5) Ability to resist disease 

(6) Increased yield in seed 

(7) Greater effort to make the plant at home. 
These characteristics are important, all of them. 

They must be kept in mind with every effort to 
improve the seed. 

And next we have only to remember that the 



96 COTTON 

laws at work in seed production are the same as 
those at work in animal breeding: — ^heredity and 
variation. 

All horses have some characteristics in common; 
in certain respects all cattle are alike; hogs are 
never confused with sheep ; each species has its own 
special characteristics; birds have feathers, bills, 
and wings. 

Heredity establishes features common to each 
class. We class horses into breeds. Some are 
heavy-muscled, short-limbed and strong. They 
make the draft breeds and appear similar in form, 
type, and outline. But some horses are long- 
limbed, long and lithe in form and muscle, and 
swift in speed. They form the roadster type. 

Why do we find these extreme types ? The 
answer lies in the fact that they have been bred to 
do special work and have acquired distinct charac- 
teristics that they may do that work more easily. 
The change from the normal form or type began 
because peculiarities are not absolutely fixed or 
made stable by heredity except along essential 
lines, and even these are subject to change. 

This change in variation is quite noticeable 
when you observe minor characteristics. All horses 
look alike, yet no two horses are exactly the same. 
They differ in a hundred ways. So with plants. 
So with cotton. 

Varieties of cotton are similar in essentials. The 
root, the stem, the leaf, the bloom, the boll, the 
fiber, the seed, are not to be mistaken. You may 
not be able to name the variety, but you know the 
plant. In all varieties of cotton these character- 
istics are similar, and you are not deceived. 

The variation that concerns you most is in the 
amount of seed or lint, the length, strength and 



COTTON 97 

uniformity of staple — qualities which count in the 
market place. And as you grow cotton for the 
market you must produce what the market de- 
mands. 

DO ONE THING AT A TIME 

You will make a mistake if you attempt the 
improvement of your cotton in all directions at one 
time. It would be too big a task to undertake, 
even though you should devote your whole time 
to the work. Work in one direction, therefore: 
the one most important to you. When your effort 
here has resulted in improvement and becomes 
fixed and stable, begin work in another direction, 
but on the stock you have so far improved. 

Remember it does not require money or much 
extra labor to work in one given direction. What 
you do expend in this way comes back to you with 
rewards a hundred fold. Set yourself to improve 
your cotton in one particular quality : always select 
plants that will produce most of marketable lint 
and seed. This you can readily determine by a 
thorough field examination. 

HOW TO SELECT SEED 

The most productive plants in any given variety 
are those that have the largest, best-formed, and 
most numerous bolls. The eye will readily detect 
these plants. Select one hundred of the choicest 
bolls from superior plants for your initial work 
the coming season. From this quantity you will 
secure from 3,500 to 4,500 seed, which will be 
sufficient for planting a seed plot of at least a 
quarter of an acre, and this should produce some- 



98 COTTON 

thing like fifteen bushels of seed at picking time. 
This quantity in turn will give selected seed for 
fifteen acres the following year. 

Continue to select one hundred of the choicest 
bolls each year for your seed plot of the succeeding 
year. 

Such a system of seed selection should be 
perpetually practised by planters throughout the 
South, and should of course improve the seed stock 
to a high degree, greatly increasing the productive- 
ness and greatly accentuating all the desirable 
qualities of the plant. 

THE SEED PLOT 

Locate your seed plot on a soil offering conditions 
similar to those of the rest of your cotton area. To 
locate your plot on a sandy soil, for example, if 
the main crop is to be grown on a rich, heavy, 
clay formation, would be manifest folly. 

Select a type of soil, then, like that on which the 
general crop is to be cultivated, but enrich it; 
for you will get the best and most vigorous seed 
from plants well nurtured and grown under most 
favorable conditions. You will make no mistake 
in fertilizing well and following with thorough 
cultivation throughout the growing season. 

STUDY INDIVIDUAL PLANTS 

By a study of individual plants you can carry 
the selection of your cotton still further. No two 
plants are alike in every detail. They vary in a 
hundred and one ways. They vary in their 
ability to transmit superior qualities to their 
progeny. And this is an important consideration. 



COTTON 99 

The animal breeder calls this quality pre- 
potency. It represents the faculty of transmission 
of parental qualities to offspring. Some animals 
do this to a remarkable degree. Some plants do. 

Study your individual cotton plants so that you 
may know which plants are pre-potent and which 
ones are not. Where this transmitting power is 
weak, you will have less desirable breeding stock, 
and this you should discard. Preserve seed from 
plants only that are able to propagate their in- 
dividual qualities and merits ; otherwise your prog- 
ress will be slow. 

Now as to the best way of putting this principle 
into effect: suppose you have selected one hun- 
dred bolls and these have come from several plants. 
You can label the seed at planting time, from every 
boll, or at least those from particular plants, and 
determine the transmitting power. This makes 
more work, but it greatly facilitates the breeding 
operations. 

SELECTION IS NOT SLOW 

Nor is the selection of seed a slow process for 
increasing yield of lint and seed. Its practice will 
show results even the first year. A good farmer 
of our acquaintance last year grew cotton at the 
rate of one thousand pounds of seed per acre from 
seed of three years' selection, while the ordinary 
seed under the same conditions as to soil, fertilizers 
etc., produced only 700 pounds per acre. Similar- 
ly, in your field in any growing season there are 
doubtless plants which will yield at the rate of five 
hundred pounds of seed cotton per acre; others, a 
thousand pounds; still others will produce at the 
rate of fifteen hundred or 2500 pounds of seed 
cotton per acre. LOrc 



100 COTTON 

Why this difference ? 

They are grown on the same soil; moistened by 
the same rains; brightened by the same sunshine; 
they have enjoyed the same tillage, fertilization and 
culture ; and yet they differ in many ways. 

The solution of the problem is heredity. Like 
begets like. 

We expect much from civilized races of men; 
but less from the untrained, the child-like. In the 
vegetable world we can readily apply the same 
principle. We will not use for seeding purposes 
the small yielders, the little doers. 

But this elimination must be done in the field 
at picking time. We can do no mixing. We must 
secure seed from the superior plants and keep it 
separate from the general lot. It must be ginned 
separately, too, else our pains and labor will come 
to naught. 

By discarding seed from poorly producing 
plants, and securing it only from the best, the pro- 
cess of improvement will work quickly and surely, 
and will reward the planter even more liberally 
than he might expect. 

This means, furthermore, that we shall abandon 
the practice of getting seed for planting at the gin 
except from cotton previously gathered from 
selected plants and set aside for planting purposes. 

SELECT MORE THAN ONE PLANT 

The plan of selecting more than one plant for 
breeding stock is a good one, since it gives you 
better opportunity for the study of the transmitting 
power of each individual; and this increased num- 
ber of plants for breeding purposes also aids you 
greatly in approaching the special type you are 
endeavoring to evolve. 




§1 

o .s 



O -5 

a; '^ 

O == 



.5 1 






■< ^ 




W 

o 
o 

O 



COTTON 



101 



A plan suggested by Dr. Webber of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, shows the simplicity 
of breeding cotton, and is illustrated in the diagram 
below : 



2nclyearliw] 1^ 



T 



4tl^ year 
5th year 



5 Acres 



\ 



T 



General crop 



500 I > [Y 



<? 



5 Acres 

— r 



\ 



500 



] 



^ 



General crop 



5 Acres 



500 — — 



— m 



Diagram Illustrating Method of Selecting Cotton 
PEDIGREED STOCK 

The Sea Island planters on the islands off the 
coast of South Carolina follow a method of selec- 
tion almost exactly like the plan advised by Dr. 
Webber. 

When first introduced into this country from the 
West Indies, Sea Island cotton was a perennial and 
quite unsuited to our climatic conditions. A plan 
of selection, faithfully executed with the purpose of 
using only early-maturing plants, has resulted in 
making the Sea Island variety thoroughly at home 
in its new environments — so much so that to-day 
this variety stands foremost in length and fineness 
of staple. 

Cotton bred with a definite purpose in the breed- 
er's mind; selected from year to year because of 



102 COTTON 

merit and worth; adapted to soil, climate, and 
methods of fertilization and culture, is "highly 
bred" cotton in name and in fact, and in every 
sense is pedigreed stock. 

Such strains are worth many times their cost, 
and give ample reward for any additional labor 
that needs to be given them. 

BREED COTTON TOWARD AN IDEAL 

The animal breeder has succeeded in producing 
marvelous strains of various classes of farm animals. 
He has succeeded because he worked toward an 
ideal. Some standard of excellence is no less 
surely needed that the cotton planter may be 
guided in the improvement of his crop. 

And in working toward such an ideal, as has al- 
ready been suggested, those traits which count for 
much in the sale of the commercial product, must 
be given first consideration. Those factors are : 

An abundance of bolls 

A boll of large size 

Heavy yield in lint 

Fiber of good length 

High percentage of lint 

Fiber that is fine 

Fiber of good strength 

Fibers uniform in length. 

With these factors and their relative importance 
in mind we suggest a score card as follows : 

A PROPOSED SCORE CARD FOR COTTON 

( Large, 15 points 
A. Number of Bolls •< Medium, 10 points 
15 points ( Small, 5 points 



COTTON 1C3 

A PROPOSED SCORE CARD FOR COTTON 

{Continued) 

r Large, 15 points 

B. Size of Boll -J Medium, 10 points 

15 points ( Small, 5 points 

r Heavy, 15 points 

C. Yield of Lint < Medium, 10 points 

15 points [Light, 5 points 



D. Length of Fiber 

15 points 



2 inches, 15 points 
If inch., 12 points 
1^ inch., 8 points 
1^ inch., 5 points 



( 35, 15 points 

E. Per cent, of Lint ■< 30, 10 points 

15 points ( 25, 5 points 

TFine, 10 points 

F. Fineness of Lint < Medium, 7 points 

10 points (Coarse, 5 points 

( Strong, 10 points 

G. Strength of Fiber < Medium, 7 points 

10 points (Weak, 5 points 

( Good, 5 points 
H. Uniformity in Length < Medium, 3 points 
5 points (Poor, 1 point 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE king's realm, THE LAND OF SUNSHINE 

The great cotton producing section of the 
United States lies a little below latitude 37°. This 
nearly coincides with a line drawn from Norfolk, 
Virginia, to Cairo, Illinois, and marks the northern 
limit of profitable cotton culture. (Of course, the 
cooler mountain region of this section must be 
eliminated.) 

Here then is the Cotton Belt of America, and 
to this region the world looks for its annual supply 
of raw cotton. New areas, favorable to cotton 
production, will be developed, as time goes on, 
but for all time to come the present cotton-growing 
States will likely furnish the greater portion of the 
world's needs. 

PECULIAR CLIMATE OF THE COTTON BELT 

The Cotton Belt has a somewhat variable climate. 
From its geographical situation it is naturally of 
moderate extremes, and favored by the winds that 
sweep over its territory. That equable tempera- 
ture which characterizes the zone of Gulf Stream 
influences has promoted the growth of the various 
agricultural and horticultural industries. Or- 
chards and vineyards thrive in the genial climate; 
trucking crops are nowhere better favored ; one can 

(104) 



COTTON 105 

grow (and with profit) any agricultural plant in- 
digenous to America in almost any State in the 
belt. But though other crops are grown, cotton 
here is indeed king, and with improved soil con- 
ditions and wiser cultural methods will become 
recognized as the most powerful plant monarch 
in all the world. 

For profitable production, cotton requires: — 

A relatively high temperature 

A long growing season 

A moderate and well-distributed rainfall 
throughout the growing season 

A small amount of rain at maturing time 

A great deal of sunshine. 
These conditions are found in the Cotton Belt 
to a greater degree than anywhere else in the world. 
When they are prominent as features of any sea- 
son a maximum yield is produced. But let the 
growing season be short, tne rainfall excessive, the 
amount of sunshine small, or the summer cool and 
cloudy, and the whole world will know in advance 
of the harvest that a small crop has been produced. 

RELATIVELY HIGH TEMPERATURE REQUIRED 

Broadly speaking the mean temperature is from 
15 to 20 degrees higher in North Carolina, Georgia, 
Alabama, and Texas than in Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois. 

In winter the mean temperature is from 20 to 
25 degrees higher in the South and in summer from 
10 to 15 degrees higher. This climatic condition 
is especially favorable to cotton culture, since it 
means a long season free from frost or low temper- 
atures. Cotton enjoys a warm atmosphere, or even 
a hot atmosphere provided it is moist and reason- 



106 COTTON 

ably constant. A sudden change in temperature 
bringing on a cold spell is objectionable, for it 
tends to check the growth of the plant, ripen its 
fruit, and influence its final yield unfavorably. 

A LONG GROWING SEASON 

At first cotton grows slowly. In a sense it is a 
tender plant. A light frost may do little injury; 
still it shortens the season and this is an undesirable 
risk. An ideal situation with regard to frost is to 
have the last spring frost no later than April 1st, 
and the earliest autumn one no earlier than Novem- 
ber. 

The Cotton Belt provides the much desired 
long growing season better than any other area of 
the earth's surface when other essentials and con- 
trolling influences are taken into account. 

RAINFALL PLAYS A PART 

More rain also falls in the Cotton Belt than in 
the northern section of the country. This excess 
varies from 30 to 50 per cent. The total rainfall, 
and the time rain falls, have much to do with 
successful cotton production. 

A moderately well-distributed rainfall is neces- 
sary during the growing season. A small amount 
is preferable to an excess, since grass is the bane 
of the cotton farmer; and grass is favored by much 
rainfall. When present it adds greatly to the cost 
of culture. The slow growth of cotton while the 
plants are young allows grass and weeds to make 
rapid headway, and unless costly labor is con- 
stantly furnished, the tender cotton plants will be 
choked out in the race for growth and sunshine. 



COTTON 107 

In fact, among planters nowadays, there is a 
tendency to delay the planting period because of 
this grass menace returning with each planting 
season. Where early maturing characteristics are 
bred into the plant this practice will prove desir- 
able, since it favors grass and weed destruction by 
reason of the general cultivation given before the 
crop is planted. 

The use of harrows and weeders immediately 
after planting, and for some weeks later, will 
materially assist in the battle which must be con- 
stantly waged against grass — against "General 
Green," as the Southern phrase has it. 

During the early growing period of the plant, 
not heavy storms, but rain in frequent showers,— 
preferably at night with much sunshine during the 
day — is the sort of weather in which cotton 
rejoices. 

Dry weather during the maturing period, is 
especially favorable to cotton production, and 
happily for the farmer, this dryness is peculiarly 
prevalent throughout the Cotton Belt in late sum- 
mer and early fall. 

It is probable that the first half of the plant's 
life is the more important half. In the latter half, 
drought, excessive rains, insects, shedding of bloom 
and bolls, and even other troubles we have con- 
stantly. Still if the plant and the crop reaches 
July safely and in thrifty growing condition, the 
planter is reasonably sure that an average crop 
will be gathered. 

SUNSHINE OF PRIME IMPORTANCE 

Cotton grows only in warm lands where there 
is a great deal of sunshine. It is truly a sun plant, 



108 COTTON 

the darling of Apollo. Wet, cloudy, and rainy 
days, except in so far as they are necessary to supply 
the comparatively small amount of moisture re- 
quired, have no place in its calendar, and are 
unfavorable to vigorous, abundant growth and 
to the yield of seed and lint. 

The blossom itself tells us this. In the morning 
of a bright, clear, warm day, it opens to its full 
extent to drink in the sun, but as soon as the damp 
evening approaches, it closes as if it would keep 
cold and dew wholly without. In every way the 
plant shows its nature and its longing for warmth 
and sunshine. Its green leaves even appear to 
turn to the east in the morning, waiting for the 
sun to rise, and seem, in a measure, to follow it in 
its course until it sets in the west; then they droop — 
as if the day's work were finished — and await the 
coming of the sun again. 

Climate has much to do with cotton. A native 
of tropical lands, it does its best in temperate cli- 
mates, and seems unable to venture beyond the 
limits of its adopted home. No other staple field 
crop in our country is so circumscribed. Other 
than grass, corn (our leading crop by acreage and 
production) has gone to every part but our western- 
most limits : wheat, oats, rye, though all somewhat 
choice of soil, yet fear neither heat nor cold; but 
cotton, wedded to the Southern sunshine, pines 
away and, Rachel-like, will not be comforted, when 
taken from its Dixie home. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SOILS AND HOW TO HANDLE THEM 

There is no soil typical of the Cotton Belt. Cot- 
ton is grown alike on light sandy soils, on loams, on 
heavy clay soils, and on strong bottom lands, 
though naturally not with equal success on all of 
these varieties of soil. 

In a general way we may group the cotton lands 
into two great divisions — the uplands and the 
bottom lands. The former may be sub-divided 
into light sandy soils, and red and gray clay soils; 
while the latter embrace river-bottoms, basins and 
banks of small streams, the prairies and cane- 
brakes, and the valleys of the Mississippi and its 
branches. 

These soils vary greatly in origin, in composition, 
in productive power. Like other lands, they are 
subject to change; and respond to good treatment 
or suffer from inattention and neglect. 

In all parts of the South one sees cotton soils 
once abounding in fertility, but now so exhausted 
that they grow crops hardly worth the cost of 
seed, fertilizers and tillage. On the other hand, 
other cotton soils which inherited poverty through 
generations of thriftless ownership, are now noted 
for their high productive power. 

Every soil helps its owner in proportion to the 

(109) 



110 COTTON 

owner's ability to help it. High pedigree, if one 
may use this term in this connection, counts for 
little, if a poor farmer owns the land. Just as the 
canvas reveals the training and the power of the 
artist, so the cotton soil testifies as to the intelligence 
and skill of the owner. 

THE SUPREME TEST OF THE PLANTER 

Power to make the soil produce remunerative 
crops is the supreme test of cotton farming. With- 
out this power, good prices for the staple, an ideal 
climate or situation, a propitious season, are of as 
little agricultural value as "sounding brass or 
tinkling cymbals." 

What then is needed ? 

This is needed: Knowledge of the soil and its 
management. The cotton farmer must so know 
his soil and its proper management that he can 
make it yield better crops ; that he can permanently 
improve it for the generations that are to come after 
him; that he can make not two, but five pounds of 
lint or seed grow where one grew before. These 
happy ends can be achieved only by the most in- 
telligent cultivation, and by the application of every 
principle of improvement revealed by modern 
science. 

HELPING NATURE 

The soil we know was once rock. Through 
countless years this primitive rock has been dis- 
integrating and making soil. The great forces of 
nature through ages and ages of recurring summer 
and winter have been at work on it. And soil build- 
ing never stops. Our cotton soils are being made 
to-day. But you must help nature in her effort to 
make your own soil more productive. You must 



COTTON 111 

neither check nor discourage her. She wants your 
helping hand. If the soil has been robbed of its 
humus, you must return this important element; 
you must add chemical manures when needed ; you 
must plow deeply and effectively that a good seed 
bed be provided for the tender plants; legumes 
must be grown that their strong, deep-growing roots 
may add nitrogen and also penetrate and loosen the 
sub-soil, and bring to the upper layers the rich 
plant food of the fertile mines beneath. 

GOOD TILLAGE NEEDED 

Our Southern soils possess great possibilities for 
improvement. They are not exhausted and dead 
as generally supposed. Good tillage will help 
many of them as it helps soils devoted to oth-er crops. 

The plow will do much to restore virgin fertility. 
It will assist nature in making plant food available 
for the tiny fibrous roots. The plow will let air and 
moisture into the soil that they may do their share 
in rendering hitherto locked-up plant food avail- 
able for the plant. 

Good tillage means more than turning a three or 
four inch furrow, as is the usual practice through 
most of the Cotton Belt. It means the gradual 
deepening of the root bed until ten or a dozen 
inches are turned to the air for purification and 
rejuvenation. 

CROP ROTATION NEEDED FOR COTTON LANDS 

Not only do our cotton lands need more thorough 
tillage, but through the greater part of the Cotton 
Belt the one-crop system is practiced. From its 
very nature it is a ruinous system, leading inevitably 
to the deterioration of the land. 



112 COTTON 

Why is this true ? 

Because it does the following things : 

1. It injures the texture of the soil by making 
light soils loose and open, and heavy soils dead and 
lifeless. 

2. It destroys the humus of the soil; and no 
soil can remain fertile if it contains little or no 
organic matter. 

3. It influences unfavorably the water content 
of the soil: light sandy soils with little vegetable 
matter are loose and open, and soon lose the 
moisture in them; heavy clay soils robbed of their 
vegetable matter quickly dry out and bake. 

4. It influences unfavorably the amount of 
available plant food in the soil. Vegetable matter 
itself contains plant food and when used up, with 
no additional amount to replace it, the loss is soon 
felt. Plant food is lost also by leaching away in 
loose soils or by becoming insoluble in stiff heavy 
lands. 

5. It draws too constantly on tnat special ratio 
of fertilizing ingredients most needed by the cotton 
plant. A crop following after one requiring a some- 
what different proportion of nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid, does much to restore the proper 
balance required for the most profitable cotton 
production. 

Continuous culture of cotton on any land, then, 
is undesirable. Its harmful influence may be over- 
come only by a system that involves a change of 
crops. 

Such a change of crops is suggested by nature 
herself. Cut a forest growth and a change of trees 
comes on. Pasture lands give way to many weeds 
and thistles ; bluegrass and Bermuda drive out the 
clovers and timothy. Crops do better when fur- 



COTTON 



113 



tiished new land and soil new to them. Just as an 
animal likes variety in food and a change of pasture, 
so the cotton plant wants occasionally, a new and 
fresh feeding ground. 

A SUGGESTED SCHEME OF CROP ROTATION 

In arranging an order of crop rotation that shall 
serve best your system of farming, it is well to bear 
in mind that plants vary : — 

1. As to taste in kinds and quantity of plant 
food. 

2. In feeding habits. 

3. In the power to add humus to the soil, or 
(because of culture) to use it up. 

4. In the ability of some, like cowpeas, alfalfa, 
and the clovers, to add nitrogen to the soil. 

These are only general rules but should be em- 
ployed whenever possible because their use will aid 
materially in the rapid improvement of cotton lands. 
An example of such a rotation is given herewith : 



First Year 


Second Year 


Third Year 


Summer 


Fall 


Summer 


Winter 


Summer 


Winter 


Corn 


Cow- 
peas* 


Cotton 


Oats or 
Wheat 


Cow- 
peas 


Rye or 
Clover 



•Planted in corn at last cultivation. 



If you examine this three-year-course rotation 
you will find that it includes two nitrogen crops 
(cowpeas and clover) for soil improvement and hay; 
two cultivated crops (corn and cotton) for physical 



114 COTTON 

improvement of the soil and to kill weeds; two 
grain and fiber crops (oats or wheat and cotton) for 
money crops; and two stock feeding crops (corn 
and clover or rye) for pasture, ensilage or stover. 

USE LEGUMES AND COVER CROPS 

Good soil management calls for some legumes 
to assist in keeping the land fertile and full of 
humus. The cowpea accomplishes this purpose 
best of all our legumes in the Cotton Belt, because 
it grows on every kind of soil, in wet or dry seasons, 
and in hot or warm temperatures. Rather than 
allow any land to lie idle as a " rest" year, sow it to 
cowpeas so as to furnish both hay for the work 
stock and humus and nitrogen for the soil. 

A cover crop like clover, oats, or wheat is also a 
great help, since it prevents washing of land during 
the winter months. We are confident that more 
soil fertility is lost by the washing and leaching of 
exposed soils during the winter season than the 
cotton crop removes from the land during the 
whole six months of its growth. 

The cotton farmer should include, therefore, 
cover crops and legumes in his system of crop 
rotation, that these important agents in soil im- 
provement, may do the great work they always 
stand ready to do for him. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



BRINGING EXHAUSTED SOILS BACK TO LIFE 

We have few cotton soils that are really worn-out. 
We merely call them so. We have treated them 
badly; so badly that they have become unre- 
sponsive to our calls. Some of these were good 
once, others were less valuable, but bad treatment, 
cruel neglect, and thoughtlessness of their com- 
fort, have contributed to making them what they 
are to-day. 

What shall we do with them ? 

We can do three things : 

(1) Turn them over to weeds and gullies. 

(2) Make forests out of them. 

(3) Bring them back to productiveness and 
beauty. 

Of course, we have no desire to give them over to 
weeds and gullies. We have already enough of 
each. Weeds come as nature's blessings to those 
abandoned fields, but the gully leaves only ruin 
and desolation to mark its track. 

Perhaps there are many areas where hills and 
rocks abound that might be used to better advantage 
if turned over to forest growth. Timber lands are 
becoming valuable, and with the coming years, 
will be still more valuable. Hence, lands difficult 
of tillage and cultivation might be better employed 

(1 15) 



116 COTTON 

in bringing on new crops of timber for future 
generations that are to need them. 

Still, the greater part of these so-called worn-out 
lands may be reclaimed and brought back to the 
fructuous state they were in before the soil-robber 
came. 

The first step is this: Clean them up and give 
them the advantage of good appearance. If 
clothes make the man, good looks make the field. 
If fields could think, they would doubtless act like 
animals and men : to show their value they would 
wish to look well. But to be covered with brush 
and thickets and gullies and the like is enough to 
make them shameful and little-doers, 

AMPLE REWARDS IN RECLAIMING WORN-OUT SOIL 

Treat these lands liberally and they will brighten 
up and respond gloriously. For every cent you 
spend on them in the way of better appearance and 
clean faces they will return many. Every gullied 
wrinkle you remove will bring hope and earning 
power to them, and to you; the care and attention 
expended in grooming with axe and plow will pro- 
duce marvelous changes in appearance, productive 
ability, and commercial value. 

Possibly you have many acres of this kind of 
land. If so, reclaim them as you can. Five acres, 
ten or fifty: work in this fashion as far as you are 
able. Winter is the time, and there is none better. 
You are not busy with details of work : your men, 
your tenants, have many, many idle days; your 
teams are inactive because winter is on, and no 
pressing work is to be done. Make work: employ 
men and teams in these old fields. Cut the thick- 
ets, mow the briers and brush ; plow the soil deeper 





GETTING FERTILIZER FROM THE AIR. 

Growing clover or any other leguminous (nitrogen-gathering) crop in rotation 
with cotton is the most satisfactory way of keeping up the fertility of cotton lands. 




':Q^'H£ 




CLLTIVATIXG THE CROP. 

The old ridging system of cotton cultivation is going out of fashion. In the 
first picture we have the mule and the one-horse plow; in the second the more 
modern — and more economical — two-horse cultivator. 



COTTON 117 

than you have ever done before. Let the one- 
horse plow alone. It is useless in these old fields. 
A larger, heavier one is needed and two horses or 
mules will be required for the work. If you are 
able to do this during earlier winter the clay sub- 
soil turned up will do no harm. Freezing and 
thawing, air and rain, will get things ready for the 
crop and no harm will be done. 

Have you ever done this work ? Have you ever 
tried it on your old fields ? It may surprise you. 
It has surprised us. 

THE COWPEA AS AN ALLY IN SOIL RESTORA- 
TION 

You are now ready for the spring to come. Of 
course you will use the cowpea. It will do the 
work if any plant in all the world can do it. It will 
send its roots down deep into the subsoil below; it 
will put nitrogen into the land, humus will be added ; 
the texture will be improved; the soil will come to 
life. You may get only a small growth of cowpeas 
the first year. It will depend on how badly the 
soil is deteriorated; on how much it is worn out. 
You can pasture the cowpeas or make them into 
hay, or leave them to mature and die. Suit your- 
self in this respect. 

And now winter comes on again. Go into 
another field. Clean it up in the same way as you 
have done the one we have just been consider- 
ing. And last year's section — ^you must not forget 
it. In winter plow it again and put it to peas a 
second time and then a third time. That makes 
the field. It lives! it is restored to life. Though 
weak and tender, still it will go to work bravely and 
willingly. 



118 COTTON 

Let cotton come; the old field is xcady, there is 
no weariness now; no dragging of feet because 
famished by hunger or thirst; no sullen soil in 
which the cotton plant must send its unwelcome 
roots in search of food; no empty larder from 
which it is to turn away disappointed. 

FOUR THINGS TO DO 

Be reasonable with this soil from this time on. If 
you over- work it, evil results are sure to follow. 
Treat it properly and it will grow stronger and 
better. It will never despair again. 

These four things you must do : 

(1) Grow a legume of some kind every year or 
two 

(2) Use cotton only in some rotation 

(3) Plow deep and cultivate thoroughly 

(4) Keep humus in the soil. 

Fertilizers usually can be employed to advantage 
in soil restoration. Much plant food is not avail- 
able. It is present in the soil, but not in forms that 
plants can use. Time, tillage and thoroughness 
only will wake this plant food from its sleep and 
rest that plants may use it abundantly, and when 
they have need for it. Until that time phosphorus 
and potassium may be added to the soil to help 
the cowpea. Nitrogen is not needed, since the 
cowpea attracts the bacteria that build nitrogenous 
store-houses on its roots. 

This mutual arrangement is especially helpful to 
the cowpea, since it is a ravenous nitrogen feeder 
and finds an abundance of nitrogen within 
reach of mouth and hand. So chemical nitrogen 
is not needed as a fertilizer for cowpeas. A mix- 
ture of sixteen hundred pounds of acid phosphate. 



COTTON 119 

and 400 pounds of kainit makes a good combination 
of which from 150 to 300 pounds may be used per 
acre. 

A good growth of cowpeas means the addition 
of a great deal of humus and nitrogen to the soil. 
It means the employment of the most economical 
methods for providing the nitrogenous part of the 
cotton fertilizer. 

And not only does it furnish the most costly 
element of fertilizer; it also furnishes humus 
which is the back-bone and the life of the soil, 



CHAPTER XV. 

COTTON unique: a self-supporting crop 

Cotton, like other plants, gets its food for life 
and growth from the soil, the water, and the air. 
Strange as it may seem on first blush, it is from air 
and from water that all plants are chiefly derived. 
From the air carbon enters the leaves and there 
forms the so-called carbonaceous matter of the 
plant. Cotton lint is pure cellulose, a material 
made from the carbonic acid of the air. From the . 
air, too, comes a large part of the oxygen which, 
next to carbon, is the predominant constituent of 
the dry matter in the cotton plant, as well as in 
other plants. Other elements found in cotton are 
hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, calcium, sodium, 
magnesium, chlorine, iron, aluminum, potassium, 
phosphorus, and silicon. 

WHAT IS A FERTILE SOIL? 

A fertile cotton soil must contain all the elements 
of plant food in sufficient quantities and in available 
form to produce productive crops. As a rule, the 
soil elements are present in sufficient quantities to 
produce paying crops. Nitrogen, phosphorus and 
potassium, however, may be deficient, and if so, 
must be added through other means, or the crop 
will manifest its loss by making small growth and 

(120) 



COTTON 121 

diminutive returns in seed and lint. By a de- 
ficiency is meant, in this case, an insufficient 
amount of plant food available for the use of the 
plants. 

Really, as we have already seen, there is no such 
thing as worn-out cotton soils. There are poor 
cotton soils, unproductive cotton soils, infertile cot- 
ton soils, but they are so because of improper man- 
agement; because the humus has been destroyed; 
shallow plowing has been followed; plant food has 
been lost or locked up. 

Tillage and humus — -and these alone — unlock 
the door to this treasure-house of old Mother 
Earth. The addition of nitrogen, phosphorus and 
potassium in chemical forms is only a temporary 
arrangement to make better crops for the time 
being. No permanent improvement of the soil will 
result unless tillage and an abundant amount of 
humus become the basis of such improvement. 
Chemical fertilizers are to be used, therefore, as 
supplementary helps, rather than as primary con- 
ditions. 

We are now ready to consider the feeding de- 
mands of the cotton plant in reference to the forms 
of plant food usually purchased — nitrogen, phos- 
phorus, and potassium. 

But first, let us divide the cotton plant into its 
parts that we may clearly know the relative quan- 
tities of each. 

PARTS OF AN AVERAGE COTTON PLANT 
Part Per cent. 

Roots 8 . 80 

Lint 10.56 

Bolls 14.21 

Leaves 20 . 25 



122 COTTON 

PARTS OF AN AVERAGE COTTON PLANT 
{Continued) 
Part Per cent. 

Seed 23.03 

Stems 23 . 15 



Total 100.00 

Elsewhere it has been stated that 190 pounds of 
cotton lint is the average annual yield per acre. If 
we use the following table of percentages, therefore, 
we find that an average crop of cotton contains : 

190 pounds lint; 

157 pounds roots; 

256 pounds bolls; 

364 pounds leaves; 

414 pounds seed; 

416 pounds stems. 

QUANTITIES OF PLANT FOOD REQUIRED 

In ascertaining the demands of the cotton plant 
in respect to nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, 
we can go to the plant itself for the information. Pro- 
fessor McBryde has analyzed a great many cotton 
plants, and from his work the amount of plant food 
usedbyeachpart is readily calculated. In this dis- 
cussion, the reader must observe that only nitrogen, 
phosphorus, and potassium are considered, since 
they are the only elements purchased in commer- 
cial forms, the others being usually available in suf- 
ficient quantities in the soil. These facts are shown 
in the following table ; 





THE RESCUE OF OLD LANDS. 

Gradually deepening the seed bed — the pasture ground of the roots 
most effective ways of getting more wealth from cotton. 



! one of the 



COTTON 



123 



PARTS AND DEMANDS FOR YIELD OF AVERAGE 
ACRE 



Quantity and part 


Nitro. 


Phos. 


Potas. 


190 pounds lint 


.65 
6.08 
1.44 

11.70 
6.51 

12.96 


.19 
2.45 

.81 
4.33 

2.47 
5.26 


.87 


416 pounds of stems 


5.87 


] 57 pounds of roots 


2.01 


364 pounds of leaves 

256 pounds of bolls 


6.57 
4.64 


414 pounds of seed 


4.84 






Total 


39.34 


15.51 


24.80 



Here we find the average cotton crop of 190 pounds 
of lint draws from the soil 40 pounds of nitrogen, 
16 pounds of phosphorus, and 25 pounds of potas- 
sium. But stems, roots, leaves, and bolls are re- 
turned to the soil, and are therefore not really taken 
from the land at all. Lint and seed are taken 
away, and are removed from the land. Now what 
draft is made on the soil ? Let us see, and at the same 
time compare with corn and wheat on the basis of 
the average yield of each crop per acre. 

We have the following facts: 



Crop 


Nitro. 


Phos. 


Potas. 


Totab 


Cotton 

190 lbs. lint 

414 " seed 


.65 
12.92 


.19 
5.26 


.87 
4.84 




Total 

Corn 

29.4 bus. grain 

4000 lbs. stover 


13.57 

32.14 
41.60 


5.45 

12.36 
11.60 


5.71 

7.06 
56.00 


24.73 


Total 

Wheat 

13.95 bus. grain 

2300 lbs. straw 


73.74 

19.75 
13.57 


23.96 

7.44 
2.76 


63.06 

5.1 
11.73 


160.71 


Total 


33.32 


10.20 


16.83 


60.35 



124 



COTTON 



COTTON A FAR LESS EXHAUSTIVE CROP 
THAN CORN OR WHEAT 

This table shows several interesting things. The 
most striking fact brought to our attention is this: 

Of the three great staple crops of America, cotton 
is by far the least exhaustive. 

Wheat requires more than twice and corn nearly 
seven times as much plant food as does cotton. 

Nor is this all. We will suppose that cotton seed, 
corn stover and wheat straw are used on the farm, and 
in the end find their way back to the soil. The plant 
food they contain will be returned to the land from 
whence it was taken. We will now find a still 
greater difference in reference to the demands on 
the soil made by each crop, as is shown in the table 
below : 



Crop 


Nitro. 


Phos. 


Potas. 


Total 


190 lbs. lint 

29.4 bus. corn. . 
13.95 bus. wheat 


.65 
32.14 
19.75 


.19 

12.36 

7.44 


.87 
7.06 
5.10 


1.71 
51.56 
32.29 



In respect then to the amounts of nitrogen, phos- 
phorus and potassium required for average acre 
yields of cotton, wheat and corn in the United 
States, wheat calls for 19 times as much of these 
elements as cotton, and corn calls for 30 times as 
much as cotton. 



RETURNING COTTONSEED TO THE SOIL ESSEN- 
TIAL TO ITS PRESERVATION 

The greatest demand on the soil by the cotton 
plant is for seed production. For the average 



COTTON 125 

yield 13 pounds of nitrogen, 5 pounds of phosphorus 
and 6 pounds of potassium are used. 

If seed are sold, cotton is an exhaustive crop, 
but still only moderately so. When a rational 
system of farming is followed so that seed (or its equiv- 
alent in meal) may be used by live stock on the 
farm, and returned in manure to the land, cotton 
becomes the least exhaustive of all field crops. 
The demands on the soil are slight, indeed, when 
lint is the only product that goes from the farm. 
Wise is the farmer who realizes this, and blessed is 
he whose farming methods recognize this practice. 



(SHAPTER XVI. 

BUYING FERTILITY FOR THE SOIL 

The small yield of cotton per acre over the greater 
part of the Cotton Belt is due to poor management 
in maintaining fertility, small quantities of home- 
made manures, sale of cotton seed from the f arm,poor 
tillage, the limited growing of leguminous crops, an 
ill-planned tenant system, and the lack of systematic 
crop rotation in the management of cotton farms. 

AH these factors have contributed to the small re- 
turns in yield and to the constantly increasing de- 
mands for commercial fertilizers. 

Where attention is given to all these details cotton 
growing becomes at once the most profitable of all 
kinds of farming in the whole world. 

The small farm, as well as the large plantation, 
is ever confronted with new phases of management; 
the owner is successful in proportion to his ability 
to meet these new phases and so adjust them to his 
work that they will conduce to his profit and 
advantage. 

The use of commercial fertilizers has assumed 
gigantic proportions in cotton production and calls 
for constant discussion. 

We have mentioned elsewhere that of the four- 
teen chemical elements demanded by the cotton 
plant, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the 
only ones likely to be deficient in old soils, and, 

(126) 



Lint CcttOa/ 



w>mm, 




B. 



^^^^^^^^^^^^?^^^^^W^^^^:^^^?;^^i^^^7^5??i5^^ 



'////Jm'//S>!''/''/''^//yMi'y 



\ -% t \ \ \ 



sco/e D.//Z 




(Courtesy of Gray's Studio.) 

The diagram at tlie top shows the relative quantities of nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid required for the production of an average vield (per acre) of corn 
wlieat^, seed cotton and hnt cotton— strikingly illustrating the light draft on soil 
tertility when cotton seed or their equivalent are returned to the soil. The middle 
picture shows crimson clover; at the bottom we see cotton cultivation in its final 
stage. 



OaJE Tom ft/RTILIZ£/^ 

/kruftL fifCs'c /fcio. I 
AorU/tL N'lTf^OCrEAJ. 
/Ic^TUML FcTASH 




TWO WAYS OF FERTILIZING 

A common fertilizer formula is the "8-2-2"; the diagram shows its relative 
quantities of actual nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. The second way shows 
the cheapest and easiest way of getting nitrogen and humus into the land. 



COTTON 127 

hence, must be furnished if satisfactory yields are 
to be obtained. 

How to furnish these elements — ^in what forms; 
at what time; and in what quantity — are problems, 
which, like the poor, we have always with us. 

That fertilizers pay is attested every year on 
nearly every farm and with most emphatic proofs. 
That they are often, if not usually, employed 
without the attention due their importance is also 
certainly true. 

The judicious use of fertilizers demands that 
every farmer make not only a study of sources and 
relative values, but also a study of his own soil and 
crop conditions. Fertilizers show their greatest 
profit where the farmer practices thorougli prep- 
paration of land and careful tillage. Here it is, too, 
that they can be used in greatest quantities with 
most economical results. 

NITROGEN 

Nitrogen is the most costly element of plant food 
that we buy, and for this reason its production by 
means of home-made manures and legumes should 
be carefully considered. 

Four-fifths of the atmosphere is made of nitro- 
gen, but unfortunately this atmospheric nitrogen is 
in a form not available for plant use. There is a 
compensating influence, however, in the fact that 
nitrifying bacteria seek out the leguminous crops, 
and on their roots store up nitrogen in small 
tubercles, ready for use by the growing plant. 

SOURCES OF NITROGEN 

In commercial forms and factorv-mixed ferti- 



128 COTTON 

lizers, we find several materials for supplying 
nitrogen : 

Nitrate of Soda or Chili Salt-peter is a white 
solid which is mined in the rainless districts of 
South America, especially in Chili and Peru. 
When prepared for commercial use it contains 
from 15^ to 16 per cent of nitrogen or 320 pounds 
to the ton. 

Nitrate of soda dissolves easily in water, and 
rapidly distributes itself through the soil where 
plant roots can make use of it. The plants take 
their nitrogen from the soil in the form of nitrate, 
regardless of the source of supply, hence this 
material is the most immediately available form 
of plant food found in commercial substances. 
When used in large quantities there is danger of 
loss because of the ease with which the material 
becomes soluble. 

Sulphate of Ammonia: — This substance con- 
tains about 20 per cent of nitrogen or 400 pounds 
to the ton. While quite available it must be 
changed first into nitrate form before being used by 
plants. 

Dried Blood: — Contains from 8 to 12 per cent of 
nitrogen and 7 to 14 per cent of phosphoric acid, 
and is the richest substance coming from animal 
products. 

Tankage: — ^A by-product of the slaughtering 
house, contains from 4 to 8 per cent of nitrogen and 
7 to 14 per cent of phosphoric acid. It slowly de- 
composes in the soil, but is a valuable material 
for cotton fertilizers. 

Dried Fish Scrap: — This substance is a by- 
product of the fish oil and canning factories. It 
contains both nitrogen and phosphorus, there 



COTTON 129 

being from 6 to 8 per cent of the former and 7 to 9 
per cent of the latter. 

Cotton Seed Meal: — Contains 7 per cent of 
nitrogen, or 140 pounds to the ton, and is the most 
important of the vegetable products used in 
commercial fertilizers. It decays very rapidly but 
lasts for a considerable length of time. It is much 
less quickly available than nitrate of soda or 
sulphate of ammonia, and more promptly available 
than tankage. 

PHOSPHORUS 

Experiments tend to show that phosphorus is the 
chief element demanded by most cotton soils. As 
is true of nitrogen, so phosphorus is necessary to 
the full and complete development of all parts of 
the plant, but its usual use is in fruit and seed 
production. Being a mineral substance, a de- 
ficient supply in the soil can be reinforced only 
through artificial means. 

SOURCES OF PHOSPHORUS 

Phosphatic Rock: — These are mined in North 
and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and 
Florida. They must be ground finely before being 
used, and even then are slow to decay. Best 
results are obtained by treating the ground rock 
with sulphuric acid to make the phosphoric acid 
available. 

These materials make up the bulk of the phos- 
phorus supply in cotton fertilizers. They contain 
from 12 to 16 per cent of available phosphoric 
acid. 

Bone Fertilizers: — Bone was early used as a 
fertilizer and is still popular today. "Ground 



130 COTTON 

bone," "fine ground bone," "bone dust," "bone 
meal," "dissolved bone," are terms to indicate 
the mechanical treatment and physical condition 
of the fertilizer. Ground bone contains from 2 to 4 
per cent of nitrogen, and 20 to 35 per cent of 
phosphorus ; steamed bone from 1 to 2 per cent of 
nitrogen and 25 to 30 per cent of phosphorus ; and 
dissolved bone 2 to 3 per cent of nitrogen and 12 to 
14 per cent of available phosphorus. 

POTASSIUM 

Potassium, the last of the elements likely to be 
deficient in the land, seems to be less urgently 
in demand by the soils of the Cotton Belt than 
are nitrogen and phosphorus. Its best use is in 
connection with phosphorus. 

The principal commercial materials that furnish 
this element are obtained from potash mines at 
Strassfurt, Germany. Potassium either in kainit 
or muriate of potash is rapidly soluble in water and 
equally available to the cotton plant. 

Kainit: — This substance is the one most com- 
monly used as a potassium carrier for cotton. It 
contains 12J per cent of potassium or 250 pounds 
to the ton. 

Muriate of Potash: — This is a purified substance 
of the potash mines, and is one of the richest 
materials supplying potassium. It contains fifty 
per cent of potassium or 1000 pounds to the ton. 

BUYING COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 

Commercial fertilizers make up the bulk of our 
purchased cotton manures. They are sold under 
hundreds of names, but are valuable only in pro- 
portion to the amount of plant food they contain. 

Of course, one should always be guided in 



COTTON 131 

buying factory mixed goods by the guaranteed 
analysis and not by any particular name or brand. 

Nitrogen is usually about three times as costly 
as phosphorus and potassium. The prices of 
these elements vary from year to year, but in a 
general way one can place the commercial value of 
nitrogen at fifteen cents per pound and phos- 
phorus and potassium at five cents per pound. 

In computing relative values of different fertilizers 
you should bear in mind that 1 per cent means 
one pound in a hundred, or twenty pounds in a ton. 
It is also a good plan to base your estimate on the 
lowest percentage figure, since these more truly 
represent the true value; the higher ones are 
usually put there to deceive the purchaser. 

To show the manner of estimating fertilizers, I 
will use two brands commonly sold on the market : 

No. 1. Guaranteed Analysis. 

Nitrogen 1.60 to 2 per cent. 

Phosphoric acid 7 to 8 per cent. 

Potash, 2 to 2.75 per cent. 

Cost, $30.00 per ton. 

When these percentages are multiplied by 20 we 
obtain the number of pounds in a ton, and when 
further multiplied by the value per pound, we 
obtain the value on the basis of a ton. 

This is shown below : 

Nitrogen 1.60 by 20= 32 lbs. @ 15c. = $4.80 

Phosphorus 7 by 20=140 lbs. @ 5c. = 7.00 

Potassium 2 by 20= 40 lbs. @ 5c. = 2.00 

Commercial value per ton $13 .80 



132 COTTON 

No. 2. Guaranteed Analysis. 

Nitrogen 2 to 2.75 per cent. 

Phosphoric Acid 9 to 11 per cent. 

Potash 2 to 3 per cent. 

Cost per ton, $28.00. 

Let us calculate its value as in the case of No. 1 : 

Nitrogen 2 by 20 = 40 lbs. @ 15c. = $6.00 

Phosphorus 9 by 20 =180 lbs. @ 5c. - 9.00 

Potassium 2 by 20 = 40 lbs. @ 5c. = 2.00 
Commercial Value per ton $17.00 

In purchasing commercial fertilizers your aim 
should be to obtain the largest amount of plant 
food at least cost. In the first fertilizer $13.80 
worth of plant food would cost you $30.00 while 
in the second $17.00 worth would cost you but 
$28 . 00. The difference between commercial value 
and selling price is due to the cost of manufacture, 
profits, agent's commissions, etc. With the first 
this difference is $16.20 while with the second it is 
but $12.00, — a clear saving of $4.20 per ton, and 
No. 2 superior to the other in every way, since you 
secure 8 pounds more of nitrogen and 40 more of 
phosphorus. 

You will often find printed on fertilizer bags 
analyses as follows: 

Ammonia 2 to 3^ per cent. 

Available phosphoric acid 8 to 10 per cent. 

Total phosphoric acid 11 to 14 per cent. 

Actual potash 10 per cent. 

Sulphate of potash 18 to 20 per cent. 

This reduced to its true meaning should read as 
follows : 

Nitrogen 1 . 65 

Phosphorus 8 

Potassium 10. 



COTTON 133 

In most States, however, it is now unlawful — 
and properly so — ^for the fertilizer manufacturer 
to use the "sliding scale" in his printed analysis; 
only guaranteed minimum figures are allowed. 

Ammonia is used in fertilizers because it sounds 
as if a little more nitrogen was used, but values are 
estimated on basis of nitrogen content. Remember 
it is nitrogen you are after. Ammonia can be 
reduced to terms of nitrogen by multiplying by 
.824. In other words, one pound of ammonia 
equals . 824 pound nitrogen. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FABM-MADE MANURES : SAVING FERTILITY FOR THE 

SOIL 

There is an old saying that runs, 

"No grass, no cattle. 
No cattle, no manure. 
No manure, no grass," 
which contains so much good sense in a few words 
that it should become a memory gem in every rural 
school in the land. And it is especially applicable 
to cotton growing, for cotton lands need manure 
even to a greater extent than grass does. Next to 
tillage and good seed, farm-made manures are the 
crying needs of the Cotton Belt. These manures 
will do these things for the soil: 

(1) Add plant food 

(2) Unlock stored-up quantities of plant food 

(3) Increase the humus content 

(4) Improve the mechanical condition of the 
land. 

The importance of these factors in promoting the 
crop-producing efficiency of soils has been shown 
in previous chapters, and will be considered here 
only as they pertain to the production and use of 
farm-made manures, for we are concerned now 
with the use of additional plant food in potential 
and active forms. 

(134) 




SOILS AND THEIR IMPROVEMENT. 

A gu'.lied old field at the bottom; at the top a field which has kept its virgin 
lertility through proper rotation and the growth of legumes. 



COTTON 135 

THE FARM A FACTORY FOR FARM-MADE MANURES 

Naturally every farm produces some manure. 
But as the factory-farm is ordinarily run, only a 
small quantity is annually produced. Too little 
is made to meet the wants of the cotton farm. 
Something is wrong with the factory management, 
else more manure would be made. 

Live-stock increases the efficiency of the factory. 
We will go further and say that live-stock com- 
bined with any system of farming will lead not only 
to permanent improvement of the land but to the 
highest efficiency in the management of the whole 
plant as well. This suggests much. It means 
diversification; it calls for a rotation of crops; it 
increases the animal stock on the farm; it demands 
greater skill in management; it means business 
farming. And with it all, it means manure. 

What becomes of cotton seed now ? You bury 
them in the soil for fertilizer, or you sell them ; but 
how few cotton farmers feed them, and thereby get 
two profits — one from feeding and one from fer- 
tilizing! And by neglecting to save one of these 
profits the Southern farmer annually wastes enough 
for a King's ransom. 

Plant food is always disorganized material. 
Decay must come before plants can feed. Animals 
on the other hand, can use only organized material. 
Hence, is it not better to feed cotton seed or their 
equivalent in meal, and get the feeding value out 
of them ? After this they may be returned to the 
soil in the form of manures. By this practice 
nothing is lost and much is gained. We like to 
buy fertilizers in the form of feeding stuffs, pass 
them to the cattle, and from them back to the soil. 



136 COTTON 

They provide a double value for us, and it is only 
business to take it. 

The cotton farm should be open to live-stock, 
then, and the seed or meal produced on the farm 
should be consumed there by animals raised on the 
farm. At present the Cotton Belt sends cotton 
seed meal to all parts of the world, which is just 
another way of saying it ships away plant food or 
Cotton Belt soil to all parts of the world. Such a 
practice leads to soil depletion. It may be followed 
for a great many years without bringing its full 
penalty on the heads of those who practice it, but 
in the end it means death and destruction to the 
land. 

YOU CAN MAKE FARM MANURES 

You are making some home-made manures, but 
are you doing your best in this respect ? 
What are your teams doing during the winter 
months ? To be sure, most of them are idle. But 
they need no rest. Keep them going the whole 
winter long, some here, some there, gathering vege- 
table matter wherever it is to be found. Haul this 
in and pile it deep under horse and cow, and keep 
up the work. It is the medicine the cotton soil 
needs. No tonic will produce a change so quickly; 
no prescription will so rapidly vitalize and build up 
the soil system. 

THE COMPOST PILE 

You can make a compost pile, if you like. 
Thousands of farmers believe in it. Thousands 
do not. It is one of the knotty questions on the 
farm. Perhaps there are two sides to the question; 



COTTON 137 

at least we are willing to admit that there are. 
Still we prefer a direct application to the field. 

When you consider the labor necessary for extra 
hauling and mixing, it is considerable after all. 
How much better it is to use that labor in the woods, 
getting and hauling other quantities of leaves and 
pine straw for the various pens, stalls and yards at 
the barn. 

We prefer to haul manure direct to the field and 
have it mixed in the soil, so its decay can take 
place there, because as a result of chemical action 
it will rot the soil as it rots itself. 

SAVE THE MANURE 

The American farmer has not yet become skilled 
in saving manure. He is rather wasteful in most 
things and especially so with farm manure. 
Liquid from the stable and yards runs away, be- 
cause of too little bedding material, is leached 
away in the rain, and is lost never to be recovered. 
Again, stables are cleaned, manure is dumped out 
of window or door, exposed to sun and rain, and 
gradually burned up or washed into the stream. 

Do you believe this ? Your own observation 
will be proof enough. 

The remedy lies in but one direction : Save home- 
made manures and make more the following year. 
If you have no covered barnyard or other covered 
place to keep it, haul direct to the fields. 

This offers many advantages: 

It enables you to keep the stables clean. 

You can do the hauling in the winter when men 
and teams have little else to do. 

The soil itself is benefited by the decay of 
manures and is inclined to make active its in- 
soluble plant food. 



138 COTTON 

Where this method is practiced, it combines easily 
with winter or cover crops like clover or rye, and as 
plant food is released it is stored in stem, root, and 
leaf of the growing plant, thus leaving a wealth of 
plant food and humus in the soil for other crops 
that come later. 

GREEN MANURES 

A green crop plowed under offers another quick 
way of improving the productive power of the soil. 

For this work you can use clover, rye, or cow- 
peas. Glover and cowpeas are preferred, since 
they add humus abundantly, and at the same time 
gather atmospheric nitrogen and store it in the soil. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

home-mixing of cotton fertilizers i saving the 
manufacturer's profit 

Home-mixing of fertilizers deserves much more 
attention than it receives. The fact that standard 
brands may cost from five to fifteen dollars a ton 
more than the commercial value of the several in- 
gredients of plant food; the fact that fertilizing 
materials are standard articles of trade and may be 
purchased as such ; and the fact that the many manu- 
factured brands are only composed of materials 
such as the farmer may purchase himself, all suggest 
the wisdom of farm-mixing rather than factory- 
mixing. 

The claim has been constantly advanced, but 
principally by agents of factory-mixed goods, that 
home-mixing is not advisable and that the work 
here cannot be done properly. This claim is 
altogether untrue, so far as the principle of home- 
mixing goes. That some fertilizing materials have 
been mixed hastily and poorly on some farms, 
we have no doubt: but so has plowing on some 
farms been poorly done; so have seeds been im- 
properly selected; and so has culture of the grow- 
ing crop often been neglected, or the wrong prin- 
ciples followed. But shall we abandon tillage and 
seed selection because someone else is thoughtless 
or because he fails ? Rather, if the principle is cor- 

(139) 



140 COTTON 

rect, if the practice has proved reasonably success- 
ful and if it is a money-saving method for the farmer, 
it should not only be considered carefully, but put 
into operation as quickly as means may be found. 
The first step in home-mixing is the selection of the 
materials to be used. Then these must be brought 
together, mixed and bagged. Now you can do 
this work, receive big wages foryour labor, and save 
money besides. Often many farmers join to- 
gether and make their purchases. A better rate 
is usually obtained, as the cost for freight is less 
for a large lot shipped at one time than if several 
lots are separately billed. 

WHEN AND HOW TO MIX 

The winter season is usually the best time for 
mixing fertilizers, since it enables you to get your 
materials together and do the work when labor is 
available and before you get into the rush and hurry 
of the plowing and planting season. 

This time is suggested, not because of the great 
amount of labor involved, or time required, but 
because it may then be done well without haste or 
carelessness. 

To the fertilizing phase of cotton growing you 
should indeed give the same consideration, in 
reference to all details, as you give to seed, or 
labor, or soil preparation. Hence you should take 
it up, study it carefully, and be ready when the 
time for action comes. 

An excellent place to do this fertilizer mixing 
is a tight barn floor. There are times in winter 
when this can be given over a few days to this work 
without greatly interfering with feeding or any of 
the other uses of the barn. You will, however. 



COTTON 141 

find the wagon box as suitable, and many people 
prefer it. 

In mixing, spread the materials over the floor 
to the depth of five to ten inches, putting the bulk- 
iest fertilizer first; on top of this, spread layers of 
the remaining materials ; and then mix thoroughly, 
shoveling over several times. When a great many 
tons are to be mixed this operation will need to be 
repeated often and the material bagged as mixed. 
In case you find any unmixed material has become 
hard and lumpy in the sacks, first put it in a sepa- 
rate pile and break up finely with a maul or shovel. 
This done, it is ready for the mixing pile to be 
handled as described above. 

WHAT KINDS TO USE 

You will, of course, decide what materials you 
wish to use, and in doing this you should be gov- 
erned by the commercial value rather than by the 
name. The State Experiment Station will assist 
you in suggesting a formula to use and the materi- 
als to buy. 

Here are a few general suggestions it is well to 
bear in mind in doing the work : 

1. Nitrate of soda is immediately available when 
mixed with the soil. Therefore it should furnish 
no more than one-third or one-half of the nitrog- 
enous part of the fertilizer. 

2. Sulphate of ammonia is open to the same 
objection as nitrate of soda, but to a smaller de- 
gree. 

3. Cottonseed meal decays slowly, and at the 
price for which it can be bought at present, may 
be used with economy as a nitrogen carrier. 



142 COTTON 

4. Acid phosphate is usually our most economical 
carrier of phosphorus. 

5. Muriate oi potash is an economical carrier of 
potassium. 

6. Kainit, which contains only one-fourth of the 
quantity of potassium found in muriate, is usually 
preferred in cotton manures because it is believed 
to be beneficial in warding off rust. 

7. Nitrogen is especially concerned with the 
growth of leaves and stems. If your cotton leaves 
and stems have been small, therefore, and the 
nitrogen supply in the soil has not been increased 
by the growth of some leguminous crop, it would 
be well to increase the nitrogen content of the 
formula you select. On the other hand with 
marked growth of leaf and stem, the quantity of 
nitrogen in any formula may be decreased or alto- 
gether abandoned. 

8. When cotton follows clover, cowpeas, or other 
legumes, little or no nitrogen will be required in 
the fertilizer. 

9. When stem and leaf growth are abundant, but 
yield of seed and lint below what it should be, 
phosphorus and potassium — especially the former 
— are needed. 

10. In a general way, on average cotton soils 
the best results are obtained when nitrogen, phos- 
phorus, and potassium are combined in the propor- 
tion of about three or three and one half parts 
phosphorus, one part nitrogen and one part 
potassium — unless the nitrogen be already sup- 
plied by leguminous crops. 

THE FORMULA TO USE 

It is impossible to suggest a formula, or even 



COTTON 143 

many formulae, that will meet all conditions of 
soil and culture. You must work out this problem 
by personal investigation and experiment if you 
desire to solve it with any degree of satisfaction. 
Formulae should differ with different seasons, dif- 
ferent soils, different farms. Only the general 
average can be considered here. 

COMPOST MANURES 

No. 1. Green Cotton Seed 100 bushels 

Stable Manure 100 bushels 

Acid Phosphate 2000 pounds 

No. 2. Barnyard Manure 1750 pounds 

Acid Phosphate 200 pounds 

Kainit 50 pounds 

2000 pounds 

No. 3. Barnyard Manure 1225 pounds 

Cotton Seed 400 pounds 

Acid phosphate 300 pounds 

Kainit 75 pounds 

2000 pounds 

HOME-MADE CHEMICAL MANURES 

No. 1. Acid phosphate 1100 pounds 

Cotton Seed Meal 700 pounds 

Kainit 200 pounds 

Total 2000 pounds 



144 COTTON 

No. 2. Acid Phosphate 1000 pounds 

Cotton Seed Meal 600 pounds 

Nitrate of Soda 100 pounds 

Kainit SOO pounds 

Total 2000 pounds 

No. 3. Acid Phosphate 850 pounds 

Fish Scrap 700 pounds 

Kainit 450 pounds 

Total 2000 pounds 



THE QUANTITY YOU SHALL USE 



The quantity of fertilizer to use per acre will 
depend upon the following conditions: 

Producing power of the land 

Preparation that has been given the land 

Kind of crop grown the previous year 

Richness of fertilizer 

Previous treatment of the soil 

Kind of season. 

By your own judgment you will have to deter- 
mine the quantity to use per acre. Learn your 
soil by careful observation, study and experimenta- 
tion year after year. All the way from 200 to 1000 
pounds of fertilizer are now used per acre. What 
is best for your soil and conditions lies doubtless 
within these limits. 

Try the following plan of questioning your own 
land, and the answers will be far more valuable to 
you than any foreign advice : 

Choose a small area that is reasonably typical of 



COTTON 145 

your land, and which will contain ten rows of any 
length desired. 

On rows 1 and 2, use 200 pounds per acre. 

On rows 3 and 4, use 400 pounds per acre. 

On rows 5 and 6, use 600 pounds per acre. 

On rows 7 and 8, use 800 pounds per acre. 

On rows 9 and 10, use 1000 pounds per acre. 
In cultivating, treat all soils alike and give each 
the same treatment as you give the remainder of 
the field. Carefully observe the plots during the 
growing season and at picking time estimate 
yields. The results cannot fail to be helpful in de- 
ciding what kinds of plant food your land needs 
and in what quantities each element is needed. 

WHAT WE MUST DO 

So much is involved in fertilizing land that each 
of us will have to study his individual problems 
year in and year out, that help may come to each 
of us in knowing how to manage lands and how to 
maintain their fertility, wisely and judiciously. 

That we may have a few general principles to 
guide us along our immediate course, the following 
general suggestions are offered : 

1. Judicious fertilization increases the profitable- 
ness of cotton farming. 

2. Fertilizers wisely used hasten the maturity of 
the crop. 

3. Fertilizers pay best on land in good mechani- 
cal condition. 

4. Fertilizers respond best for cotton when used 
in connection with leguminous crops. 

5. A complete fertilizer pays best on old lands. 
Where legumes are used or stable manure, the 
nitrogen content may be decreased or omitted 
entirely. 



146 COTTON 

6. When fertilizers are used in small quantities, 
apply in the drill and mix well with the soil. 
When 500 to 1000 pounds are used, apply broad- 
cast or make two applications. 

7. Home-mixing of fertilizers is the wisest prac- 
tice to follow. 

8. Adjust the quantities of nitrogen, phosphorus 
and potassium as the soil calls for change due to 
better tillage or as increased quantities of humus 
and organic matter are added to the soil. 

9. Broadcast barnyard manure on winter-grow- 
ing crops or compost with cottonseed, acid phos- 
phate, and kainit. 

10. Experiment with your own soil and forget 
not its teachings. This will help you with every 
crop that follows. 




MODERN COTTON MAKING. 

Breaking the land with three-horse plow?, and shallow and level cultivation 
of a growing crop. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE COTTON FARMER S EQUIPMENT OF TOOLS 

It is doubtful if any factor has contributed 
more to the advancement and progress of Amer- 
ican agriculture than the improvement of farm im- 
plements and machinery. When one contem- 
plates the enormous yields of American corn, wheat, 
cotton, oats, potatoes and other crops, he is struck 
with wonder and amazement. What a record our 
farmers have made ! But have you thought of the 
debt we owe to inventors and to makers of tools 
and implements, without which these tremendous 
yields would be impossible ? 

Unfortunately for him, the cotton farmer has not 
had such advantages as his brother farmers in the 
use of labor-saving machines and tools. On far 
too many farms their use is limited indeed, and 
often we find only the one-horse plow and the hoe. 
Cotton farming can never be profitable where this 
is true. The use of inefficient tools also means 
an economic policy at variance with the advance- 
ment and progress of civilization, since it restricts 
the possibilities of land and labor, and decreases 
their potential contribution to the human race. 

But where these old fashioned methods exist, they 
are now fast giving way to improvements, making 
the culture of cotton less laborious, less costly, and 

(147) 



148 COTTON 

the field at the same time more productive, thereby 
making cotton growing far more remunerative. 

Cotton farming calls for the same variety of 
labor-saving tools and devices as does the production 
of any other kind of crop. As a rule, the principal 
difference in the equipment of large and small 
farms is in number of tools, rather than in kind, 
size, or efficiency. 

For the information of the reader unacquainted 
with terms commonly used in the Cotton Belt, let 
us say that "one-horse farm" or "one-horse 
farmer" is not meant to express derision of the in- 
dividual, nor does it refer to social standing. The 
term means, on the other hand, just what it says : a 
one-horse farm on which all labor is done by a 
single animal. The owner may be a one-horse 
farmer, and at the same time stand high in the com- 
munity, and have a good store of worldly goods. 
But the value in land and equipment of a ten-horse 
farm in cotton production is just ten times that 
of a one-horse farm. 

And of what does this equipment consist.^ 
Land, feed, stock, tools, implements, etc. Since 
the one-horse plow is the important implement of 
the one-horse farm, and since it is so commonly 
used on both small farms and large plantations, it 
may be called the typical tool of the Cotton Belt. 
To be sure, two-horse and even three-horse plows 
are used; the sub-soil plow occasionally has work 
to do; the disk harrow, the roller, the cultivator, 
are now generally known, but the "Dixie" plow 
is the one tool that in a measure does the work of all 
these and which finds employment on every farm, 
regardless of its size or the wealth or standing of its 
owner. It serves as soil-breaker, soil-pulverizer 
and cultivator for weed destruction and winter 



COTTON 149 

plowing, and is known in all States and sections 
where cotton is grown. 

In spite of the popular favor in which this tool is 
held, it neither merits it, nor is its use in keeping 
with the progress now manifest along other lines of 
cotton culture. 

THE KIND OF PLOW WE WANT 

In the first place, the effective plow must so throw 
the slice ripped from the furrow as to cover all 
manure, trash or green crops on the land. To do 
this it must turn the slice entirely over or set it well 
on edge. If it does either of these things for you 
the first aim is achieved. 

In the second place, the plow should go deep into 
the ground. This must be done for two reasons : 
First, deep plowing enables the soil to drink in and 
hold more water against a day of drought; second, 
deep plowing gives cotton roots a wider pasture. 

In the third place, the effective plow must pul- 
verize the slice it throws out. It is not enough 
that your plow turn the soil; it must break, fine 
and mellow it. 

A plow that does not do these things is a poor 
plow. Measure your one-horse plows by this 
standard and you readily see why the greater num- 
ber of them should be thrown with your pile of 
scrap iron, and from there carried to the junk shop 
to be melted and remade into larger and more 
effective tools. 

The one-horse plow is sometimes defended on 
the ground of economy. Really, however, it is not 
an economical plow. The two-horse walking plow 
will not only prepare cotton lands better, but will 



150 COTTON 

do as much work as two one-horse plows and 
thereby save you the labor of one man. 

Where money is scarce or where labor is also 
scarce or insufficient, it is always economy to use 
the best tools on the market. The two-horse walking 
plow or the two-horse sulky plow ought soon to 
find a place on even the smallest farms. The 
disk plow has already been used on some cotton 
farms. It pulverizes well, and covers in an effec- 
tive manner, and goes deep into the soil. It is 
not practicable, however, for use in stony lands. 

TOOLS FOR COMPLETING THE SEED BED 

The harrow follows the plow. Commonly this 
tool is used in connection with the roller to com- 
plete that pulverization of the soil which has been 
begun by the plow. And this is necessary. You 
have observed that the cloddy spots, even in 
fertile fields, make a poor harvest. In these 
places bad mechanical condition of the soil forbids 
it holding moisture, hardens up plant food, and so 
brings about lack of fruitfulness. The harrow and 
the roller will correct this trouble. A single kind of 
harrow will not do for all soils nor for all seasons of 
the year. 

A fine peg-tooth smoothing harrow should find a 
place on every cotton farm. It levels the land and 
disintegrates the larger particles of the soil. You 
may use it also to advantage in harrowing cotton 
after planting. 

The spring-tooth harrow you should have also. 
It comes in nicely where you have leveling and 
smoothing to do, or where a heavy rain has com- 
pacted the surface too much just before planting 
time. 



COTTON 151 

In addition to these you should have either a 
disk or cutaway harrow, for crushing and for com- 
pleting the pulverization begun by the plow. 

Where clods are left on top of the soil, the 
wooden drag or roller will be the next implement to 
use. The wooden drag grinds the clods and 
lumps, and is also a good implement for leveling 
purposes. 

The fertilizer distributor is another economical 
tool, doing its work evenly and satisfactorily. 

Following the fertilizer distributor comes the 
cotton planter, and drops the seed in a continuous 
chain. While our planter as now used serves its 
purpose, it is far from being ideal. It must do 
better work. It is not enough to drop the seed; it 
must drop the right quantity and in the place 
where wanted. When this end is achieved, seed 
will be tested for vitality and germinating power, 
and the planter regulated for dropping seeds to 
suit the requirements of each particular soil. 

This will largely do away with "chopping," now 
a laborious and costly burden to the cotton farmer. 

The cultivating tools required in cotton culture 
serve three purposes: they kill weeds, provide a 
mulch so as to conserve the moisture in the soil, 
and release plant food. 

The old one-shovel plow is fast giving away to the 
shallow cultivator with several shovels. 

And the one-horse plow — do you use it for cul- 
tivating purposes ? Up and down the row it goes, 
breaking roots, increasing labor bills, lessening 
profits. Let us again express the hope that im- 
proved cultivating tools will soon replace it 
throughout the South. 

For the early work of cultivating young cotton 
plants, perhaps no implement is more useful than 



152 COTTON 

the weeder. It runs shallow; its many teeth des- 
troy or cover all weeds; it thins the cotton; its 
complete soil-stirring makes a fairly effective 
mulch. You can use the weeder two or three 
times in cultivating the cotton crop, and if you do 
not have it, then use the smoothing harrow. 

We have many kinds of cultivators : some single, 
others double; some are shallow-goers while others 
creep along the surface slightly deeper. All of our 
improved cultivators are good. Do not hesitate in 
securing such as are needed, for they will quickly 
repay their cost in increased returns. 

And finally, the hoe : is it needed ? 

Once it was thought that every gentleman 
needed a sword, then a pistol. We may have use 
even today for the pistol and sword, but not for 
every -day clothes. So we have use for the hoe in 
cotton culture, but not until after the weeder and 
fine-tooth harrow have done their work. In some 
fields, some seasons, the hoe may be needed until 
the perfect planter comes; until cultural methods 
are more studied; then the hoe may go, with 
knighthood and chivalry, and be one of the things 
of memory. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CULTURE FROM SEED TO BOLL 

In the romance of cotton the cHmax is reached 
in that scene which has to do with its culture. All 
that has come before is concerned with stage set- 
tings properly to introduce the chief actor, and 
what follows in the disposition of the crop is but 
the natural conclusion expected before the final 
curtain falls. In this growing scene the seeds 
awake from their sleep in the soil, the tiny two- 
leaved plants peep through their surface screen 
and come forth into sunlight and growth, now to 
engage the attention of a vast army of men and 
women through long months of watchfulness and 
care. 

THE BED IS MADE 

Sometime before planting time the land is 
"bedded up" as a final preparation for the seed. 
This custom seems to be almost an universal 
practice, wherever cotton is grown. While it 
involves extra time and labor, its warming influence 
on the soil, especially in cool or wet weather, 
is suflSciently helpful to modify any objection to 
the practice. 

The plan of bedding up is this: the row is 
opened and in it the manure is placed (or if a 
fertilizer drill is used, the work is done by a single 
operation); then the plow is run back and forth, 

(153) 



154 COTTON 

heaping the top soil to the center, which leaves 
the row two to three inches higher than the soil 
on either side of and between the rows. 

In bedding up many people who grow cotton 
wisely include simple tillage operations as well. It 
is not enough to make the bed only; the entire 
surface of the soil must be plowed and then 
harrowed and re-harrowed until the ideal seed bed 
is obtained. Only when this is done are you 
ready for bedding up the land. A week, perhaps 
a longer time, now passes before seeds are planted. 
But what of weeds and grass .^ Now don't 
deceive yourself, for they are the ever present 
enemy of cotton, and unless you wage war early 
and fiercely, your cotton crop will be sorely 
troubled, if not permanently injured. Your best 
weapon for some time on will be a light, fine-tooth 
harrow or weeder. This will not only destroy 
millions of weeds and grass seed that are germi- 
nating and fast gaining foothold at the surface of 
the soil, but will prove the very tool needed for 
conserving the moisture in the land. Team labor 
expended at this time of the year is hand labor 
saved later on in the season. 



DISTANCE BETWEEN ROWS AND PLANTS 

You already know that rich lands require less 
seed and a fewer number of plants than do thin 
and infertile soils. Why.? Because fertile soils 
naturally produce heavier and larger cotton stalks, 
which naturally call for fewer plants to the acre, 
and greater distance between them in the row. 

Four feet is the usually accepted distance 
between rows, although on the lighter kinds of 



COTTON 155 

soil three or three and a half feet are popular 
distances. 

The distance between plants in the same row 
may be safely placed at twenty to twenty-four 
inches for good soils, and twelve to sixteen inches 
for poor ones. Where either the variety or the 
soil tends to make larger cotton stalks, thus re- 
quiring more space, rows may be widened to 
five feet and the row space extended to from 
twenty -four to thirty inches. 

WHEN TO PLANT 

Nearly three months are included in the planting 
limit for the Cotton Belt. Each section has its 
own extremes. These are influenced by conditions 
of soil and climate, and consequently vary ma- 
terially. The table below suggests the commence- 
ment of planting time : 

Southern Texas, March 1 

Eastern Texas, March 15 

Louisiana, . . . 7." March 15 

Southern Mississippi, March 20 

South Carolina Coast, March 25 

Mississippi Bottoms, April 1 

Middle Texas, April 1 

Arkansas, April 5 

North Carolina, April 20 

South Carolina, April 20 

Georgia, April 20 

These dates suggest when planting may com- 
mence, but represent one extreme. The limited 
variation of every section is sufficient properly to 
plant the crop. When the ground becomes warm 
enough to favor germination, and is properly 
prepared, you may begin your seeding. Earlier 



156 COTTON 

than this, while the ground is cool, or before the 
season has advanced far enough for the cotton 
plant to bask in its loved sunshine, the crop will 
make little progress, even if germination itself is 
not seriously hindered by the low temperature. 
Some good farmers prefer to fertilize rather heavily, 
delay planting, and wait for decidedly warm 
weather, so as to rush the crop ahead of grass and 
weeds. If for this or any other reason you should 
postpone seeding until toward the end of the 
planting season, however, it will be safer to plant 
seed somewhat deeper, and if weather is dry, you 
should roll the land as well. 

Early maturity of the crop does not depend so 
much upon time of planting as it does on the 
early-maturing qualities of the variety. Even 
with late planting, if you have proper fertilization 
and good preparation of soil, you will secure better 
results than where the opposite conditions have 
prevailed. 

PUTTING FERTILIZERS INTO THE SOIL 

When two or three hundred pounds of fertilizers 
are used, seed may be planted without mixing the 
fertilizer with the soil. Where more than this 
amount is used, it seems desirable to apply it in the 
bed or mix it with the soil by means of the scooter 
plow. 

Heavy applications justify a different procedure. 
If placed in the center furrow, the fertilizer should 
be incorporated thoroughly with the land. Ex- 
periments seem to indicate that where as much as a 
thousand pounds are applied, it is preferable to 
side list or broadcast at least one-half of the quantity, 



COTTON 157 

using the remaining half in the center furrow. 
Double doses of fertilizers pay only where con- 
siderable quantities are used. For the dose as 
usually given, a single application is sufficient and 
this is best applied in the bedding-up process. 

THE FIRST CULTIVATION 

A few months ago we visited a cotton plantation 
which had received considerable local mention 
because of its excellence. About one hundred 
acres of the plantation were devoted to cotton, 
and at the time of our visit the crop indicated a 
yield of nearly two bales to the acre. 

*' When did you begin the culture of this cotton ? '* 
we asked the owner. 

"Well, sir, I began to cultivate that cotton 
before it was planted, " he quickly replied. 

"The crop is certainly a fine one," some one 
remarked, " and not only that, but I see it is grown 
on very ordinary land. How do you account for 
the better appearance of your cotton as compared 
with all these other fields around here .? " 

" Simply by good tillage (for I never use a one- 
horse plow) ; by making use of all vegetable matter 
I can find in the woods and on the farm; by 
careful selection of seed ; and by careful cultivation 
throughout the whole growing season, and es- 
pecially before the crop is planted. " 

The excellence of the crop truly was manifest. 
We have heard since that this good farmer had 
produced even more than his estimate that day — he 
made a total crop of two hundred and twenty-four 
bales. 

His philosophy is in keeping with the facts sug- 
gested by the study and research of our cotton 



158 COTTON 

investigators. He is successful, of course. He 
follows modern methods, and reads about and 
studies his business. 

AT CHOPPING TIME 

The imperfect method of planting cotton makes 
work with the hoe necessary in order to secure a 
proper stand and correct the excessively large 
number of plants to the acre. The present-day 
planter drops seed in a continuous chain, using 
from ten to fifteen times as many seeds as are 
needed. To get rid of these extra plants and so to 
thin them in the row that the desired number only 
shall be left, calls for the practice of "chopping. " 

As young cotton plants slowly come out of their 
beds in the ground and raise their little bodies 
into air and sunlight, the laborer comes into the 
field "to chop" the cotton and arrange it in an 
orderly manner for the growing campaign now 
before it. 

As a rule now, all planters chop their cotton, but 
when a more perfect planter comes this will not be 
so necessary. A few good farmers, even now are 
depending less on the hoe and more on the weeder 
and harrow for this work. Either one or both of 
these tools when run a couple of times crosswise 
across the rows do rather effective work in thin- 
ning the crop; and at the same time the practice 
warms the soil, mellows the surface, destroys weeds 
and grass, and puts the land into good physical 
condition for the growing crop. 

The first step in cotton culture then is this early 
work with the weeder, or peg-tooth harrow. It is, 
in fact, the most important ever made, surpassing 
in value all subsequent workings. 



COTTON 159 

OTHER STEPS IN COTTON CULTURE 

While cotton moves slowly during its early 
stages of growth, when it once takes root firmly — 
and it always means business if the soil is right and 
warm and moist — its roots go eagerly into the 
ground, searching in all directions for plant food 
and water. While the roots are thus foraging 
around, growing, spreading, and lengthening, the 
plant above the ground is not standing still. We 
grant that at times, especially when the land is not 
congenial because of poor preparation, coldness, 
or much rain, cotton plants seemingly hesitate, or 
at least move but slowly in their upward course. 
And yet can you blame them ? Do you wonder 
they move so slowly, — tender and weak as they are 
with dangers all about them ? Opposed to cold by 
nature, they suffer. Then, too, greedy weeds and 
grass continually menace and threaten them 
throughout the entire season; so unless you care 
for them while young and tender, and even stay 
closely by, they lose courage and fail to meet 
your expectations at harvest time. 

When plants are about three or four inches in 
height, the cultivating plow may be started. The 
hoe may now be laid aside, and the cultivator 
pressed into service to do what work is left until 
the maturity of the crop. 

You will act wisely if you get good tools for 
cultivating. The modern cultivator with its many 
shovels does the work well, and cheaply. 

But the plow — the one-horse plow — is not the 
tool for the cultivating season ; better leave it under 
the apple tree or in the stable for the chickens to 
roost upon than bring it into the cotton field; 
for it is not a cultivating tool for cotton or for any 



160 COTTON 

other crop where inter-culture is necessary. One 
objection to the one-horse plow is that it runs 
down into the soil where the feeding roots are, and 
there it does positive harm, for it injures some 
roots, ruins a great number of others, and con- 
sequently lessens the feeding ability of the plant. 

But that other phase : that important question of 
labor! Have you thought how expensive the one- 
horse plow is as a cultivating tool ? A man and a 
horse! Up and down the row, once, twice, three 
times, and even four times, to do work which might 
be done — and done well — in half the time and with 
half the labor if a really good cultivating tool were 
employed. 

HOW DEEP SHALL WE CULTIVATE? 

The point in this: Roots serve as supports for 
the plant and hold it in the soil ; they get the mois- 
ture and food for its growth. All are needed for 
work. In the life of the plant the surface-feeders 
have their work to do, work of just as great impor- 
tance as that done by those which creep down into 
lower depths, where harm is further removed. 

But suppose you cultivate deeply, as is the com- 
mon practice. What then.? Just what we have 
already said — the roots are torn away and the feed- 
ing ability of the plant is lessened and permanently 
injured. 

It follows then that cultivation should be shal- 
low. One inch or two, just deep enough to do good 
work, is what we want. If you think you must 
cultivate more deeply than this, let the work be 
done in the season while the plants are still young 
and before their roots have extended out in all 
directions. 



COTTON 161 

WHERE YOU FIND THE LATERAL ROOTS 

An examination of cotton roots as they grow in 
the field will indicate many things helpful during 
the cultural season, and show how essential it is 
not to go deep into the soil with the cultivator. 
The growing habits of cotton roots have been given 
a good deal of study, and this knowledge ought to 
be used to advantage in the culture of the crop. In 
South Carolina, for instance, "it has been observed 
that most of the lateral roots commenced about 
three inches below the surface, and never went 
below the upper nine inches of soil." At the Ala- 
bama Station similar observations were made. 
*'In a soil of sandy drift and pebbles" a young cot- 
ton plant three and one-fourth inches high was 
found having a lateral root over three feet in length, 
the end of the root being only three inches from the 
surface. The position of the roots suggested to 
this experimenter that " the usual deep cultivation 
would have destroyed four-fifths of the lateral roots 
which extended at right angles to the row." 

Many experiments made in respect to inter-cul- 
ture make out a strong case as to the superiority of 
shallow over deep cultivation. These tests extend 
over a period of several years, and have to do with 
conditions in several States. Only two instances 
are on record in which shallow culture failed to af- 
ford a larger yield than deep culture. 

HOW OFTEN TO CULTIVATE 

Early culture, if well done, plays havoc with 
grass and weeds. And since to rid land of these is 
the first of the reasons why we cultivate, it follows 
that if they are kept in check early in the season, 



162 COTTON 

less effort and labor later on will be required to com- 
plete the work. Then culture is given also to break 
the surface crust that forms after each rain, so as 
to conserve moisture and blanket the ground with 
a mulch of fine dry soil. If rains come often, we 
need to cultivate often; if weeds and grass persist 
in presenting themselves, then we must keep the 
cultivator going, in order to disappoint them and 
prove ourselves masters of the situation. Then 
too, if dry weather becomes the rule, the cultivator 
must be kept at work so as to hold the water in the 
soil as far as possible for growing plants. 

The best tool for this purpose, as has already 
been suggested, is a light cultivator with several 
shovels. If you will use this tool once every week 
or ten days, going once or twice in every row, you 
will have little difficulty in keeping cotton free from 
weeds and grass and in providing suitable cultiva- 
tion for these other purposes. 



TOPPING THE PLANTS 

A practice more widely followed in former years 
than now is "topping cotton." This operation 
consists in the removal of a few inches of the ex- 
treme top of the cotton stalk late in summer. The 
idea is to check the growth of the leafy upper part 
of the plant, and thereby favor the fuller develop- 
ment of the bolls already formed. 

Tests as to the advantages of topping have been 
made at a number of places, including several at 
our Experiment Stations, but fail to indicate any 
benefit from the practice; in fact, some of these 
tests have been quite unfavorable to it. In the face 
of these results and in view of the labor required, 



COTTON 163 

topping is evidently unwise and makes an unjustifi- 
able increase in the cost of growing the crop. 

THE LAST CULTIVATION 

The art of cultivation becomes very gentle and 
delicate toward the end of the growing season. 
Many men have caught the spirit of cultivating 
work for the early stages, but few indeed for the 
last. 

This last cultivation is but the final touch of the 
brush to complete the picture. The top crust only 
is to be broken ; the few straggling weeds that have 
heretofore escaped are to be caught, and then the 
work is done. 

No breaking of roots, no ripping open of soil, no 
hilling of land, is needed in this gentle, delicate 
and final cultivation. Rather, every leaf, and root, 
and every favorable soil influence, must be directed 
to help the plant in the tremendous effort it is mak- 
ing to fructify. 

CULTURE IS POWER TO HELP 

Finally, it may be said that the work of culture 
is to furnish assistance to the plant that it may the 
better do its work. 

The soil is stiff and hard, so we must open it that 
roots may enter; plant food is slight, so we must 
provide additional quantities; land is poor in tex- 
ture, meaning a poorer water supply, so we must 
add humus to the land; weeds are hardy, vigorous 
and greedy feeders on water and food, also in- 
fringing on the rights of the plant, so we must get 
rid of them; the soil favors capillarity, losing its 
moisture in dry weather, so we must cultivate fully 



164 COTTON 

that it may be blanketed in, — all these we do to 
help the plant in its struggle and its journey toward 
maturity. 




YOUNG PLAN^rS JUST AFTER GERMINATION 




AS DESTRUCTIVE AS AN INVADING ARMY. 

The pictures show the boll weevil and bolls blighted by its attacks. The cotton 
lost any year as a result of its ravages would be enough for a king's ransom. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE ILLS THAT COTTON IS HEIR TO 

From our general knowl.edge of diseases it seems 
not unnatural that any plant grown to any extent 
on the same areas year after year, subject to the 
same treatment, living under the same environ- 
ments, should in time be attacked by* diseases pe- 
culiar to itself. Doubtless many of our common 
plant diseases have been present for considerable 
periods of time, but have been developed and rec- 
ognized only with the development and application 
of science to agriculture. It is reasonable to sup- 
pose that we have had for sometime many of the 
maladies that now affect cotton. Doubtless many 
of these have been recognized by practical occur- 
rence, but until a pathological study was made they 
were not definitely described and the range and 
extent of their ravages not clearly known. It is 
scarcely correct therefore to say that the common 
maladies of the cotton plant in the United States 
are of recent occurrence; rather they have been 
with us to a greater or less extent for a long time, 
but have become more prevalent in recent years, 
since cotton production has become a more cen- 
tralized industry and its culture more intensive. 

It is natural to suppose that where planted spar- 

(165) 



166 COTTON 

ingly, or grown under some plan involving a con- 
stant change of crops in which cotton appears only 
once in four or five years, there would be consider- 
ably less trouble from disease; for it is only in those 
cases where a disease gains a foothold that it causes 
appreciable loss to the cotton farm, and to gain 
such a foothold permanently cotton must be 
grown on the same land in fairly quick succession. 

The same principle of disease as it applies to the 
cotton plant, or in fact to any plant, applies also 
in animal life. Texas fever, for instance, affects 
cattle only where they graze upon the same land 
year after year and thus give the tick time to put 
a new generation through the full cycle of changes 
each season. But if, on the other hand, cattle are 
withdrawn from the affected territory, and kept 
from it a year or two, the tick disappears as soon as 
the process involved in the completion of its life- 
history is disturbed, and it perishes, leaving the land 
entirely free from that time on. Perhaps there 
would be no eradication of the disease were the 
lands continually grazed without any period of 
intermission. 

It is so with our cotton diseases where the crop 
is grown continually, as cotton usually is. There 
is no disturbance of the life process involved in the 
disease and so it comes on year after year, com- 
pleting its full cycle of development. 

The treatment of disease in general then should 
involve preventive methods rather than specific; a 
wise system of farming that will improve the land 
and make it stronger — this will mean interference 
in the development of the disease; this will lessen 
its ability to do harm, until it perishes altogether 
for want of necessary surroundings and satisfac- 
tory environments. 



COTTON 167 

In general the diseases affecting cotton may be 
divided into three classes : 

1. Diseases affecting bolls: 

Anthracnose 
Shedding bolls. 

2. Diseases affecting roots: 

Root Gall 
Root Rot. 

3. Diseases affecting leaves or stems or both: 

Anthracnose 

Leaf Blight 

Mildew 

Damping-off 

Wilt 

Mosaic 

Red Rust 

Angular Leaf Spot. 

WHAT THESE DISEASES DO 

In order to clearly understand these diseases 
each one will be discussed separately. 

Anthi'acnose: — The fungus causing this dis- 
ease is a well known parasite of the cotton plant 
in all its stages of growth. It attacks the stems 
of young seedlings near the ground and produces 
the disease similar to the well known "sore-shin" 
or damping-off of the same plant. The cotyle- 
dons or young seed leaves also are attacked 
frequently. The same fungus also produces spots 
on the leaves and on the stems, but it is perhaps 
best known as the cause of the anthracnose of the 
boll. 

When it attacks the bark of the stem, reddish- 



168 COTTON 

brown areas at first are produced, and eventually 
the bark dies. As a result of this injury the leaves 
may turn yellow, wilt, and fall from the plant; 
though, unlike the rust with which these symptoms 
often are confused, the plant rarely if ever produces 
another crop of leaves when affected by the anthrac- 
nose. 

As a result of the boll anthracnose, very serious 
losses may result. A boll when attacked by this 
fungus assumes, particularly on the side exposed to 
the sun, a bronzy yellow due to the growth of the 
vegetative threads (mycelium) of the fungus in the 
walls of the fruit. If the bolls are nearly mature, 
especially if the weather is not very moist, no very 
serious damage to the bolls may result, and they 
may open in a perfectly normal manner. But if 
the bolls are attacked when young, or if the weather 
is rather moist, the fungus may cause the boll to 
open prematurely and expose the lint to rotting. 
The anthracnose may become epidemic, and cause 
very great losses. In this way it caused very 
serious trouble in many parts of Alabama during 
last season. Under such circumstances the sur- 
face of the bolls often becomes covered with 
a pinkish coat composed of the spores of the 
fungus. 

At present no remedy is known, but if the ravages 
of the disease render such effort necessary, it may 
be possible to select and develop resistant strains 
or varieties that will be nearly immune against its 
attacks. 

Shedding the Bolls: — This trouble has been long 
known and is very frequently a serious loss to the 
cotton farmer. Alternating wet and dry weather is 
the main trouble. Every farmer has noticed that 
during a time of excessive wet weather the ground 



COTTON 169 

is literally spotted with bolls that have dropped off. 
This condition possibly should not be called a dis- 
ease, but rather a provision of nature to adjust the 
plants to their environment. When bolls are shed 
it leaves the plant in a better condition to mature 
those bolls that are unaffected. It naturally brings 
up the question, however, as to just where is the 
nice dividing line between full fruiting and over- 
fruiting. 

No treatment for this trouble is suggested further 
than having the soil in such condition that it may 
feed the plants so well as to minimize the evils of 
unfavorable seasons. 

Root Gall: — This disease is located in the roots, 
and its primary cause is the nematode worm which 
lives in the tissue and causes the abnormal growth. 
It is termed a gall. This worm is white or yellow 
in color, and very small and threadlike in form. It 
has been said that each female will lay from one 
hundred to two hundred eggs, and that there may 
be seven or eight generations in a year. It is 
readily seen therefore that their growth and ex- 
tension is rather rapid. From the very nature of 
this disease it appears that this worm must get into 
the soil from affected plants, and hence there is 
practically no way to combat the trouble other than 
by a change of crops, and using care that other im- 
portant areas . may not be affected in the same 
way. 

As a matter of fact, the direct damage from this 
root gall is not of so much importance as the in- 
direct damage, in that the nematode in its injury to 
the root prepares the way for the entrance of the 
wilt fungus into the root system. Hence it is that 
the two troubles are often found together, and 
hence it is that many claim that the wilt came only 



170 COTTON 

after cowpeas were cultivated on the land. In 
other words the peas introduced the nematode 
worm, and this in turn caused the cotton plant 
to be readily attacked by the wilt fungus. And 
more than this, the most serious attacks of the wilt 
are found on soils known to be infected with the 
nematode worms. 

Root Rot: — Root rot is a fungus which attacks 
other plants as well as cotton — alfalfa, also apples, 
peaches, and other trees. The disease spreads in 
all directions through the soil. The fungus de- 
rives its nourishment from the living substance of 
the root, and this naturally uses up the material in 
the tissues, and they shrink and decay. The life 
processes in the roots are also checked, and con- 
sequently they are unable to supply the plant with 
necessary food and water. As a result the whole 
plant shrinks, withers and dies. 

Some one has suggested the application of salt or 
kerosene to the soil as a means of checking the 
development of this disease, but as yet the efficacy 
of this treatment has not been proved, and there is 
likely little or no value in it. Crop rotation seems 
to be the only method that will serve in keeping the 
fungus in check. Specific applications are natural- 
ly difficult to apply, even if effective. General 
methods that involve better management and 
provide a comfortable home for the plant, seem to 
be the way in which effective treatment or pre- 
vention must be directed. Crops like corn, millet, 
wheat, and oats seem not to be affected by this dis- 
ease, and consequently they can readily be used in 
a system of rotation that will bring cotton on the 
same field only once every three or four years. In 
this way cotton will show the advantage not only 
of crop rotation, but will improve by reason 



COTTON 171 

of its ability better to survive or resist the fungus. 

Leaf Blight: — ^This disease, while very common 
in cotton is not very serious. It is a fungus that 
attacks the older leaves of the plants, and such 
others as have been disturbed in some manner so as 
to affect nutrition and assimilative power. You 
will sometimes find this disease associated with 
other diseases that affect the leaves and have 
weakened them, thus destroying their power to re- 
sist disease. The leaf blight is distinguished by 
the reddish circular and somewhat irregular spots 
surrounding a rabbit brown or white central area. 
As yet no remedy has been suggested for this 
trouble, and likely none will prove satisfactory that 
does not involve a better adaptation of the plant to 
its environments. This adaptation will enable the 
plant in a measure to resist this disease — or any 
other disease for that matter. 

Mildew: — This is another fungus disease that 
affects the parts of the leaf limited by the veinlets. 
Its area of infection, thus far, has been rather limited 
and little harm has so far resulted from it. While 
it may occur in many parts of the Cotton Belt, its 
damage is small and unimportant. No remedy 
has been suggested. 

Damping-oJJ: — The terms "sore-shin" and "seed- 
ling rot" are also applied to this very common dis- 
ease. It is a fungus attacking the young plant just 
beneath the surface of the ground. The parts 
affected assume a shrunken appearance, brownish 
or reddish in color. The time of attack is in early 
spring, when the cotton plant is small and delicate. 
Wet weather aggravates the trouble and from the 
nature of the disease, perhaps effective remedies 
cannot be applied. Any soil treatment that may 
be given so as to fit the plant for its environment, 



172 COTTON 

thus controlling soil conditions, will favorably in- 
fluence the plant so that it can outgrow the trouble. 
Liming the soil to improve its mechanical con- 
dition ; good tillage so as to loosen and aerate the 
soil; frequent cultivation in the spring so as to dry 
out the soil, usually after rain, and at the same 
time warm it up, are the best means of helping the 
plant when the fungus appears. 

TVilt: — This disease has also been called "french- 
ing," and extends over a considerable portion of the 
Southern Cotton Belt. The fungus gains entrance 
through the roots and thence goes into the wood 
tissue of the stems. The growth of the fungus in 
the stems naturally hinders the upward and down- 
ward movement of the plant solutions, thus inter- 
fering with the physiological processes of the plant. 
How the disease works may be readily seen by 
splitting open the stem: a brownish diseased con- 
dition will be noticed. Occasionally you find that 
a greater part of the leaves of the affected plant 
drop and the plant dies, a new growth probably 
appearing from the lower part of the stalk. 

The only remedy lies in securing a variety or 
breeding a variety that will resist the disease. This 
is the only direction from which help can come. By 
going into the field and selecting seed only from 
plants that have lived through the plague, you can, 
after awhile, secure plants that will grow on in- 
fected soil. 

Mosaic Disease: — The name "yellow l)iight" 
is also applied to this disease. It follows as the re- 
sult of uncongenial conditions of soil and weather, 
and even of other diseases that seem to sap the 
strength of the plant. Healthy leaves, or leaves 
from very healthy plants, are seldom if ever at- 



COTTON 173 

tacked. The first appearance of the disease is a 
pecuhar yellowing of the leaf which assumes a 
checkered appearance. As it gains ground, the 
leaf not infrequently curls up and falls. 

The most effective remedy is to keep the plant in 
good growing condition. Cultivation is effective, 
since it warms the soil, dries the upper layer, and 
provides an effective mulch during seasons of 
drought; or an addition of vegetable matter, im- 
proving the physical conditions of the soil and 
thereby favoring the plant, is an effective help in 
carrying the plant through the danger, and en- 
abling it to resist the disease. 

Red Rust: — The reddening of leaves often noted 
in parts of cotton fields is the result of attacks by 
the red spider. As a rule, this trouble is limited 
in area extent, and it is not a prominent disease. 
Dry, warm weather favors the increase and growth 
of the spiders, and hence any treatment that causes 
vigor and steady growth in the plant is a safe and 
effective remedy. 

A7igular Leaf Spot: — This disease is largely con- 
fined to the months of June and July, and while 
it nowhere appears to any appreciable extent, 
it is found in a very large territory. It gets its 
name from the dark angular spots which appear on 
the leaves. The disease does not extend to all of 
the leaves, but usually only to those that are older 
and less active in growth. The spots are watery at 
first, but in time assume a blackish and then a 
brownish color. Those plants that are less vigor- 
ous and therefore constitutionally weak are usually 
the natural prey of the disease. The selection of 
strong seed, with careful cultivation, giving a good 
growing environment for the plant, is suggested as 
the best means of warding off the malady. 



174 COTTON 

WHAT TREATMENT THESE DISEASES SUGGEST 

We see from what has been said that the cotton 
plant falls heir to many kinds of diseases. You 
naturally look for some treatment that will keep 
your plants from disease and help them to be 
strong and healthy. What is the remedy.^ It 
lies along one general direction: fitting the plant 
to its environment. If its atmosphere, its home 
conditions, and life in general, are good, it will in a 
large measure resist all diseases. 

The central thought then is to apply preventive 
rather than remedial measures. Get your soil 
deep, and well loosened; fill it with vegetable 
matter so as to control the warmth and moisture 
and plant food; rotate your crops so that no dis- 
ease may gain headway; apply humus fre- 
quently and constantly to the soil, because humus 
is the life of the land; and select seed only from 
strong and vigorous plants, for these will possess 
endurance. 

The right treatment of disease lies in these 
directions. Follow them and neither fungus nor 
bacteria can destroy your crop; follow them and 
your reward will be found in a plenteous harvest. 






CHAPTER XXII. 

INSECT ENEMIES OF THE COTTON PLANT 

You have heard about some of the troubles that 
come to the cotton farmer through the depreda- 
tions of insects; maybe you have been troubled 
yourself; if so, you are altogether familiar with 
trouble of the real and true sort. But you, in those 
regions where the plague has not yet come, you had 
better go out to meet the foe, ere he come, rather 
than delay the battle until the enemy is upon you. 
For in either case you face a foe of no uncommon 
kind, determined, aggressive, often defeated, but 
so undaunted by defeat that it keeps on, usually 
winning in the end. Such, at least, has been our 
experience with the Mexican Boll Weevil. Slowly 
at first it approached, merely selecting a place for 
camp; but that first camp became really a fort, 
and in all directions its outrunners have gone, gain- 
ing in numbers, until to-day their aggressiveness 
and power threaten the whole Cotton Belt. 

I. THE MEXICAN COTTON BOLL WEEVIL 

Monclova, Mexico, produced considerable cot- 
ton in the early half of the last century; from some- 
where, in some direction, came the insect of this 
story. How long it encamped around this little 
town we do not know, but sometime between 1860 

(175) 



176 COTTON 

and 186.5 Its ravages, gradually increasing, forced 
the farmers finally to abandon the culture of cotton. 
Cotton was not grown then for a great many years 
until it was thought safe to make another effort. 
But scarcely had operations begun anew before 
there appeared the ancient foe — hidden up to that 
time, of course, but where no one knows — and de- 
stroyed the crop. Twenty years later the insect 
was noticed at Matamoras, carrying on the same 
destructive work; but it stopped not here. In ten 
years it reached the Rio Grande. Checked for 
a moment, but not baffled, it goes on, continuing 
in its attempt to cross the river, which it succeeds 
in doing within a year or two. Once across, more 
bold now, it makes its campaign with quickness 
and dispatch, entrenching itself at Brownsville, 
Texas. Not waiting to subjugate completely the 
surrounding territory, it hurries on with darting 
jumps, and within a year it has fastened its hold 
upon San Diego, Alice and Beeville. This was in 
1804. The interior does not stop it; for within a 
year it goes still further to the North, doing consid- 
erable damage at Floresville, and reaching even 
San Antonio. Likewise it pushes to the East and 
to the Gulf, reaching Victoria, Cuero, and sends 
its scouts to Wharton also. The last ten years 
has been a period of entrenchment and invasion 
to a peculiar degree. Practically all of the cotton- 
growing territory of Texas is now invaded ; and the 
weevil has crossed into Louisiana, and has even 
threatened Indian Territory. 

Its ravages have been great, and for the last 
four years the annual amount lost to the cotton 
growers of Texas has been approximately twenty- 
five millions of dollars. Including the loss to 
ginners, manufacturers, and other allied industries, 



COTTON 177 

the total yearly loss to the South through this 
insect probably amounts to a hundred million 
dollars. 

WHAT THE DESPERADO IS LIKE 

The Mexican Boll Weevil is not a ferocious- 
looking foe. It is only a small gray beetle, with a 
reddish-brown snout, and a body scarcely a quarter 
of an inch in length — the desperado that causes 
all this trouble and fright. It hardly seems possible 
that he could strike terror to the hearts of so many 
thousand people, or that he could attract so much 
space in the newspapers. As with men, it is not the 
man but the work done that calls for praise or pun- 
ishment; so with the boll weevil, it is not the insect 
(for you have seen scores all about you that look 
more capable of evil) but his methods of attack, 
his numbers, that have alarmed the millions of peo- 
ple dependent upon one of the greatest industries 
of the world. 

THE LIFE HISTORY 

As the life of one man is the history of all men, 
so is the life of one of these insects the life of all. 
And clearly to understand him and his destructive 
work, we must follow the life history through its 
cycle, for it is during one of the intermediate stages 
that the greatest trouble is done. 

Let us take him when his work for the year is 
over : when his evil deeds for the season are ended, 
and follow him sufficiently close and far enough for 
observation purposes, since that is the only way 
we can fully understand his life. 

The weevil has done its work for the season. 



178 COTTON 

The cotton crop is ripe and harvested — or what 
is left of it after the weevil has done his work is 
harvested. He still stays with the cotton plant un- 
til late in December, or as long as any portion of 
the plant is green. 

Winter approaches now, and a winter home is 
needed. Where shall he go ? He does not like 
cold, and thousands and thousands of his fellows 
perish each year; but there are many places of pro- 
tection on the average cotton farm; the open bolls, 
grass and weeds, brush and rubbish; even leaves 
in the ground furnish a home and warmth. Here 
he stays with all his fellows, silent and asleep, until 
spring comes again. The warm days of rejuvena- 
tion go on. The buds on tree and grass stalk 
crack and burst in their joy, and perhaps awake the 
sleeping beetle, which is now attracted by the 
joyful sounds, and proceeds to take breakfast with 
the happy hosts. 

When cotton has grown so large that squares 
are made, the enemy appears, looking altogether 
harmless, few in numbers, and exceptionally gay. 
Soon the female begins to lay eggs. At first her nests 
are many and she puts but one egg to the square. 
By and by, as the number of females increases, and 
the squares become fewer in number, more nests 
must be found. The boll seems to serve the pur- 
pose well. But the shell is hard. So much the 
better; it will be safer there. Wise little mother 
beetle! she will find a way. And she does, for that 
snout seems especially built for digging and eating. 
The opening made, the egg is inserted, and the open- 
ing closed. Too precious to the little mother is that 
egg and the life within it for her not to exercise 
care, that it may not be disturbed or destroyed. 
She knows in some way, in some manner, and with 



COTTON 179 

some instinct, that the juice of the boll will soon 
glue the opening shut, and her offspring will be 
protected and safe. Sometimes two or three eggs 
are laid in each boll. In just two or three days the 
egg is hatched, the young larva develops, trans- 
forms to pupa, and eventually completes its cycle, 
this time becoming a beetle — the final stage of 
weevil growth. 

These beetles join the hosts of other workers, 
and soon a vast army, scattered here and there, 
seek new squares and growing bolls, and they too 
lay their eggs, contributing their share to the 
new broods, and to the destructive depredations. 

So then we see that there is a constant succession 
of generations from the time of the earliest ap- 
pearance of volunteer plants until the end of 
the season. This description of affairs readily 
suggests the tremendous hosts at work, destroy- 
ing the crop and blasting the hopes of the cotton 
planter. 

The greatest enemy of the weevil is frost and 
cold weather. When these come late in the season 
the latest broods mature and seek winter quarters, 
in which they may hibernate during the winter 
months. Thus a late season is favorable. On 
the other hand, where frost and cold come early, the 
last broods are caught and nearly all are killed. 
The surviving beetles have secured their winter 
quarters either before, or do so now, and sleep 
silently until spring's choice days bring them back 
again to the strenuous life they fill so well. 

WHERE HELP LIES 

"Is there no hope of ridding the land of the 
pest.^" ten thousand people ask. 



180 COTTON 

'* There is," the scientific people say, "but you 
must give us time." 

"And in what way?" 

*'We can tell you, so far, only indefinitely, but 
several things are being tried," comes back the 
answer. 

And many things are being done. Every sug- 
gestion having merit is considered. Experts from 
the Department of Agriculture at Washington, 
Experiment Stations, and private parties, all are 
exerting themselves to the utmost that this question 
may be answered, and some practical remedy 
applied. 

Some one heard of an ant in Guatemala that is 
a natural enemy of the Boll Weevil, and parties 
were at once dispatched to study it and to make 
friends with this new-found ally. 

The ant was found and brought to our shores 
where a hospitable welcome awaited it, but the 
climate was colder than it was accustomed to, and 
many of the specimens died. But some are adapt- 
ing themselves to their new environment, and in 
course of time the ant may become indeed a 
friend and ally to the cotton planter. In the mean- 
time we must wait and not neglect other ways of 
ridding the land of the fatal beetle. 

"What more can be done, and how can we help ?*' 
the farmer asks. 

"You can help in many ways: you can make 
life miserable to your enemies. See how they use 
your property — grass, brush, rubbish — for winter 
quarters: will you permit them to do this .?" 

And you can disturb them much: old rubbish, 
grass, and brush you can burn and so destroy 
thousands; for in destroying their winter quarters 
you subject them to hardships that in the end will 





THE ALPHA AND O:\IEGA OF COITON MAKING. 

The picture at the top shows the growth of cotton day by day — at 21 days it 
is still only a tiny two-leaved plant. Compare with corn. 



COTTON 181 

mean the destruction of many. Hence it follows 
that all rubbish, including cotton stalks, should be 
burned as early in the fall as practicable, and the 
land turned with the plow. 

Other effective remedies lie in trapping the beetle 
in the late fall by means of new plants left standing; 
by enticing with early plants those that escape and 
live through the winter, and then destroying them; 
by destroying all volunteer cotton plants — for these 
are natural feeding places and brooding grounds; 
by picking summer squares so as to check the 
summer ravages; and by using early-maturing 
seed and planting as early as possible. 

In some of these methods you can now find help; 
by some of these methods the final battle will be 
waged and the victory will come to you and your 
fellows. 

II. THE CATERPILLAR OR COTTON WORM 

This insect has a wider territory for his range, 
and while he still causes much anxiety and dis- 
tress, he once ruled with considerable force and 
power. 

He looks like a caterpillar : in fact that is what he 
is. You are thoroughly familiar with his work and 
that of his class. Eating seems to be his principal 
occupation. All caterpillars are voracious eaters. 
Trees are stripped of their leaves; small fruits be- 
come bare of every vestige of green; cabbages are 
often entirely destroyed. You are familiar with 
these. The cotton caterpillar is just as greedy in 
his cotton field. In appearance you find him a 
bluish green caterpillar, with small black spots, 
and often with black stripes down his back. This 
is the fellow that does the damage. 



182 COTTOiSr 

THE STORY OF HIS LIFE 

The female lays about 500 eggs, using one or 
more leaves for places of deposit, and usually the 
underside of the leaf. Since the moth is a night- 
flyer, eggs, as a rule, are laid at night. In the 
summer, these eggs hatch in three or four days, 
but the time is lengthened somewhat in the earlier 
and the later seasons of the year. The young 
larva on hatching from the egg, begins feeding on 
the leaf, starting with the underside, and biting 
just a bit of the layer. A little stronger, it travels 
about, and finally may be seen at any place on the 
stalk. During the caterpillar's life, the skin is shed 
five times; at the fifth shedding full growth is 
reached. It usually takes from one to four weeks 
to complete this part of its existence. At first 
the larva is yellow in color, but soon a change 
is seen and the greenish appearance deepens 
and becomes permanent, the black along the 
back coming out prominently, though varying 
in intensity with different individuals. The larva 
moves rapidly; in walking it brings its hind prop 
legs forward to its fore legs, arching its back and be- 
coming a loop in shape. It eats greedily now, 
subsisting on leaves principally; but where numbers 
are many and food consequently scarce, the cotton 
boll is not spared but also contributes to the bill of 
fare. And should the vegetation diet become short, 
there is no hesitation about the stronger members 
feedins: on the feebler and smaller individuals of 
the race. 

WHEN MATURITY COMES 

Many farmers believe that the caterpillar, when 



COTTON 183 

mature, seeks rest in the ground and passes the 
winter there. 

I asked one who knows this insect well. 

'*Not so," he answered me. "In fact, the in- 
sect does not even enter the ground. Nor is the 
winter passed in the caterpillar stage. The fact 
is, an imperfect cocoon is made, usually within a 
folded leaf. Here a nap is taken for a week or two, 
sometimes even for four weeks. When its sleep is 
finished, it is not a caterpillar that comes out, but 
instead a flying moth, rather small in size and of 
olive green or gray color. This moth is somewhat 
shy of the day, usually hiding then, but with the 
coming of the night it takes wings, seeking food, 
and a nest for its eggs. From now on it is a more 
active creature. It flies on and on, and seldom 
returns to its home. In fact, it goes to the North, 
going from its ancestors' Southern home, and leaves 
its brood in a new land ; these broods in turn, hav- 
ing a like roving disposition, seek new lands also, 
until the distance grows so large, it is quite im- 
possible ever to reach the ancestral home again. 
This moth wanders even as far to the northward as 
Canada." 

The number of generations each season is large. 
This is readily understood when we consider the 
fact that in just a few days after leaving the pupa 
state the moth begins its business of laying eggs. 
Thus five, six, or even more generations may be 
produced during a summer — so quite naturally a 
single individual can populate a territory of con- 
siderable extent. 

Later generations of each season, drifting north- 
ward, are damaged by cold, and seldom, if ever, sur- 
vive the winter. Hence all generations born outside 
of Southern climes are lost. New broods coming 



184 COTTON 

from the southern portions of the country along the 
Gulf each year must furnish the northern popula- 
tion, and so great is the number, the hosts often do 
considerable damage to late peaches in Kansas and 
ruin acres of cantaloupes as far north as Wisconsin. 

WHERE THE WINTER IS SPENT 

The moths that go to the north each season 
never live through the winter; they are too far 
from home to get back again, and the winter is too 
severe for them to endure the cold; hence they 
never see the coming of a new year. It is left to 
their relatives and their kind that abide in the 
warmer sections of the most southern portions of 
the Cotton Belt. Great numbers of these likewise 
perish. But of course many succeed in finding 
winter quarters to their liking, through the shelter 
of rank wire grass, and other vegetation. Ex- 
ceptionally few of these survive, but their large 
broods quickly populate all their territory, and the 
caterpillars are as numerous as the season before. 

GETTING RID OF THEM 

The natural way to rid the land of these pests 
would be to destroy their winter quarters, and they 
would perish as they do when attacked by like 
unfavorable conditions elsewhere. This seems im- 
practicable now, since the undrained territory 
and waste places of their winter resorts are so 
extensive. 

A COMMON REMEDY 

Where the caterpillar becomes very troublesome. 



COTTON 185 

threatening the crop, some heroic treatment is neces- 
sary. This seems to be found in the use of 
Paris green sprinkled on the cotton plant. 

A rather ingenious method is in vogue for doing 
this work: two sacks, made of heavy cloth, 10 
inches long and 4 inches wide, with both ends sewed, 
are tacked to the ends of a strip of wood 1^ inches 
by 2 inches and 5 feet long. The open sides of the 
bags are tacked to each of the sides of the strip of 
wood. A hole is now made in the end of the strip, 
and through this Paris green is poured by means of 
a funnel, and distributed by riding on horseback 
between the cotton rows, dusting two rows at a 
time. A slight jarring of the wood strip will cause 
the poison to pass through the sacks to the cotton 
plants below. With such equipment one man and 
one horse will dust from 15 to 20 acres daily. 

III. THE COTTON BOLL WORM 

You have very likely seen this insect in some of 
its forms; maybe not in connection with cotton, 
for it is known in many parts of the world, but per- 
haps feeding on some plant such as Corn, peas, 
beans, pumpkins, or squash. Its food range does 
not stop even here, but includes even the tobacco 
plant, and its fastidious palate often selects many 
of the garden plants such as the geranium and 
gladiolus, and even wild plants also. 

THE CYCLE OF ITS LIFE 

The egg is usually laid on the underside of the 
cotton leaf, but is often seen on other parts as well. 
You will recognize it by its whitish color, although 
inclined to a yellowish tint, is nearly round in shape. 



186 COTTON 

and quite similar to the cotton worm egg, though a 
little larger in size. From a couple of days to a 
week are required for incubation. 

The larva is somewhat darker than the cotton 
worm, and assumes the same general appearance 
in walking. Its first feeding is done near the place 
where it was hatched; as it grows in strength (and 
this it does in a surprisingly short time) , it wanders 
about seeking what is more acceptable to its ap- 
petite — the cotton boll. It seems that the contents 
of the cotton boll favor its development, since the 
boll worm seldom reaches full growth upon a diet 
of leaves alone. 

When a boll is at last found, it begins its work by 
boring into it, feasting upon it, and then abandoning 
it for another boll. This is kept up day after day. 
This method of dieting is, of course, very destructive 
to the crop. Quite a number of bolls may be 
destroyed by each individual worm. More yet to 
be said against its spendthrift habits is its constant 
unreasonableness in attacking premature blooms, 
which of course prevents them from further de- 
velopment, and consequently incapacitates them 
for fructifying. This much must be said in its 
favor, however; this policy is not wanton de- 
struction, for it makes food of the stamen and 
pistils of the blooms in satisfying its greedy appe- 
tite. 

Their feeding habits indicate that these insects 
are not altogether harmonious and agreeable in 
their pursuits, for the stronger and older ones im- 
pose constantly on the younger and weaker, even to 
the extent of eating them when vegetable food is 
scarce, or not altogether to their liking. As a rule 
you will find these "big fellows" appropriating 
the larger and more luscious bolls, and leaving 



COTTON 187 

the smaller bolls and the flower buds to the young 
and immature worms. 

After living thus for two or three (and some- 
times even for four) weeks, the larva reaches its 
full growth, and now, weary of the world in this 
form, it seeks some place for rest and change. It 
finds this in the very soil out of which the plant 
comes and upon which it is fed. It enters the 
ground, and out of earth it welds an oval cell, and 
here remains from a week to a month. At the end 
of its pupa life, it appears as a moth, varied in its 
markings and somewhat stout in body. Its dress 
is bright in color, shading from a dull yellow to an 
olive green. 

An active little creature, we find it darting here 
and there, but usually seeking the night time for 
exercise, food and work. Whether it thinks it 
safer to appear at this time or whether it is some- 
what ashamed of its deeds, does not appear; still we 
know it hides among the clover and the grass during 
the day, and with the approach of darkness comes 
out of its seclusion to find food and a place to 
deposit its eggs. 

Unlike the two insects previously described, the 
moth seeks sweeter feeding-grounds and more 
appetizing foods, such as the honey found in the 
blossoms of the cowpea, the clovers, and other 
nectar-secreting plants. 

THE season's population 

A single female deposits something like 500 eggs 
at a time. The average time occupied in the various 
changes from the egg to the adult state of the moth 
is from thirty-five to forty days; and since the first 
appearance is about the last of April or the first of 



188 COTTON 

May, there is easily time enough for five or six 
generations in each season. What a population 
for a single year! Do you wonder that their 
ravages are so destructive, or their reputation for 
evil so extensive ? 

Nor do these pests limit their work to the cotton 
plant alone; they are just as aggressive in the 
fields of corn as in the cotton fields. They find 
pleasant feeding grounds in both tassels and grow- 
ing ears. When the former have passed their edible 
state and the latter have become too hard for 
eating, the moth seeks other feeding grounds, new 
cotton perhaps, or a later-maturing corn somewhat 
farther off ; maybe a tomato field lies in some other 
direction: if so, it will be found and appropriated 
for the use of the new-coming brood. 

WHEN WINTER COMES 

As a rule, larvai of the latest broods seek winter 
homes in the ground and there remain until the 
warm days of spring rescue them when they issue 
forth as moths, soon to lay eggs preparatory to 
another summer's campaign. But this is not the 
only way the winter months are passed, for adult 
moths are known to seek shelter in some protected 
place and hibernate during the cold weather, 
perhaps only a few, however, in the adult or moth 
stage. 

ENEMIES OF THE INSECT 

Many birds feed constantly on worms. Nat- 
urally the cotton caterpillar and the cotton boll 
worm do not escape this provision by which nature 
seeks to keep them and other insect pests in check. 
The boll worm is the more favored of these two 




THE BOLL WEEVIL'S CONQUEST OF TEXAS. 

The shaded territory shows where the boll weevil is doing the most serious 
damage. 




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BEFORE THE FACTORY CAME. 

(A) Girls wind the yarn from spools into skeins, just as our grandmothers 
used to do 'way down east. 

(B) The skeins of yarn are washed thoroughly in both hot and cold water. 



COTTON 189 

insects, since it does a good deal of its feeding under 
cover of corn shucks, or within the shell of the cot- 
ton boll, while the cotton worm is usually exposed 
to bird enemies during the whole of its larva life. 



GETTING RID OF THE INSECTS 

Many kinds of traps have been devised for catch- 
ing the moths. As you know, moths of all kind 
are attracted by lights when darkness comes on, 
but the expense of operation, the comparatively 
small number that are caught, and the large per- 
centage of beneficial insects killed, seem to mark 
the moth trap as worthless. 

Poison has also been tried, but with unfavorable 
results. It is quite impossible to destroy the cotton 
boll worm as we may destroy the cotton caterpillar, 
as the latter feeds within bolls or is hidden within 
the tassels or ears of corn. Nor have we been suc- 
cessful in attempts at enticing moths to especially 
prepared sweets flavored with poison and put with- 
in their range, for only a very few accept the 
invitation. 

The most successful effort is in growing trap 
crops planted especially for nesting places 
for the moths. As soon as eggs are deposited 
these crops are destroyed, and the number of 
broods of each generation is kept at a minimum. 
A few rows of early but not thickly-planted sweet 
corn are used to surround a certain area of cotton. 
As the eggs are deposited on the silk the ears bear- 
ing this can be plucked and fed to live stock. A 
few rows of later corn may be coming on to catch 
later broods, thus to a certain degree, keeping the 
pest in check. 



190 COTTON 

IV. COTTON APHIS. 

When the first few leaves of the cotton plant have 
formed, yoU may frequently observe on the under 
surface many tiny, soft-bodied insects — some hav- 
ing wings, others wingless. Often they are so 
numerous on the terminals of the buds as to give 
these buds a black appearance. This pest is the cot- 
ton aphis. These aphides have passed the winter on 
various kinds of common weeds, but in spring mi- 
grate to the cotton plants. Often these tiny in- 
sects multiply so rapidly as to become very de- 
structive, doing the damage by sucking the sap 
from the young leaves. 

They can be destroyed by spraying with kerosene 
emulsion, whale oil soap, or tobacco water, but 
this is rarely profitable. As they pass the winter 
on various kinds of weeds, it is at once apparent 
that fall and winter plowing, by which the field is 
cleared of the host plants, will do much toward 
preventing injury from this pest. 

V. CUT WORMS 

In early spring when young cotton plants are just 
out of the soil, the farmer when visiting the field 
in the morning will often find that many plants are 
cut oif at the surface, as if some mischievous person 
had been trying to discover how many plants he 
could behead during the night. This destructive 
work is so familiar to every planter that he at once 
realizes that it is the work of cut worms. The 
well-known authors of these midnight raids are 
the caterpillars or worms. There are a number 
of different kinds, and the life-history of these sev- 
eral species varies considerably; in the case of a 



COTTON 191 

number of them it has never been accurately 
ascertained. 

The worms are generally of a brown, gray or 
greenish color, often marked with longitudinal 
stripes and dashes. They are stout, and when full 
grown are often almost two inches in length. 
There are three pairs of regular legs on the front 
portion of the body besides the fleshy appendages 
further back on the prolegs. 

Their feeding is done only at night, and for this 
reason their presence is usually discovered only 
after the damage has been done. During the day 
they hide near the plants, frequently entering the 
ground, and leaving a little hole where they went in. 
Some species remain entirely under ground, often 
pulling the plant down into the soil. 

By thorough cultivation of the land in late fall, 
winter, and early spring, much can be done toward 
controlling these pests. Thus exposed to adverse 
weather conditions, many of them will die, while 
others are eaten by birds or killed by parasitic 
insects. Furthermore, land plowed during winter 
has no vegetation on it in early spring, and conse- 
quently there is no food for these worms to feed on. 
Frequently, of course, the farmer cannot apply 
these preventive measures, and when the pests 
then become destructive, they may be destroyed by 
scattering poisoned vegetation over the infested 
portions of the field. Bunches of grass may be 
immersed in Paris Green, one pound to a barrel 
of water. 

VI. THE GARDEN WEB V/ORM 

In early spring we often see a great number 
of small caterpillars feeding on the surface of cotton 



192 COTTON 

leaves under a thin web spun over the leaf. On 
account of the fact that these worms are often 
found on "careless weed" many farmers call them 
"careless worms," and where the planter allows 
these weeds to grow unchecked, these caterpil- 
lars are always worse. When winter approaches 
the caterpillar enters the ground as a larva, often 
becoming a pupa. They emerge the following 
spring. The female lays about 50 eggs, putting 
them in several bunches on the leaves of the cotton, 
and these eggs hatch in a few days. These first 
caterpillars are miscellaneous feeders, attacking 
alfalfa and various garden vegetables. The second 
brood is injurious to cotton. In the far South 
there are upwards of five or six broods a year. 

Clean cultivation is the most effective preven- 
tive of the development of this pest. This will 
destroy the weeds upon which they feed. Where 
they have become destructive to cotton they may be 
easily destroyed by dusting the plants with Paris 
Green or some similar insecticide. 

VII. THE COTTON SQUARE BORER 

We have already considered the work of the cot- 
ton boll worm and have learned how it bores holes 
in the squares and bolls. We have learned the 
appearance of the caterpillars and feel that we shall 
know them every time we see them. When we go 
through the cotton field, however, we may see an- 
other insect doing work similar to that of the boll 
worm, but clearly a different insect. It is a short, 
thick caterpillar covered with hair, and has a uni- 
formly green appearance. These insects are called 
Cotton-square Borers. The mother of these 
green, oval-shaped caterpillars is a dainty little 



COTTON 193 

butterfly. The eggs are laid on the leaves and 
stems of cotton, cowpeas, and various other plants. 
The larvie feed on beans, cowpeas, hops, and 
peaches, but seem to prefer cotton. 

It is rarely necessary that we need to apply reme- 
dies, although a thorough dusting with Paris Green 
will control the pests. In most cases, however, the 
little wasps that are parasitic upon the borers are 
so numerous as to hold them completely in check. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

HARVEST TIME IN THE COTTON FIELD 

Every crop is interesting at harvest time; but 
especially is this true of cotton. Even the poorly 
tended field with its short stalks and open ground 
becomes spectacular in appearance as the bolls 
burst and reveal their fleecy treasures, soft, abun- 
dant and snowy white. 

To this scene add hosts of workers of all shades 
of color, and of every size from the toddling babe 
to the tottering grandfather, and here and there 
spot the picture with mounds of white made of the 
picked cotton — then indeed you have a scene that 
will never leave the mind, and will hold the gaze 
until it fades away in the distance. Such is pick- 
ing time in the cotton field: such is the reward 
of a season's endeavor. 

HOW PICKING IS DONE 

The only equipment necessary for cotton picking 
is a common sack suspended from the shoulder and 
open at the mouth into which the cotton is placed 
as it is pulled from the open bolls. It is very light 
work — more so than harvesting any other sort 
of crop. Often the best pickers in the cotton field 
are women and young children. The arduous part 
of the picking operation is the stooping necessary 

(194) 



COTTON 195 

to gather cotton from the lower bolls. The lugging 
of the load as picked is inconsiderable, since large 
baskets are kept at the ends of the rows into which 
the pickers empty their sacks as often as they wish. 

Cotton is picked largely by colored labor; and 
with the negro's careless, *' happy-go-lucky" na- 
ture, some loss is but a natural result. This loss 
principally comes from cotton falling out; from its 
being soiled by dirt; and from small locks being 
left in the bolls. 

The quantity that each picker will gather in a 
day naturally varies, since people of both sexes and 
all ages do this work. Some hands gather less 
than 100 pounds a day, while others, where condi- 
tions are favorable, gather as much as 300 to 350 
as their day's work. 

HOW LARGE A CROP CAN OUR PICKERS GATHER ? 

The picking season extends through a period of 
from 90 to 100 days. This is an important advan- 
tage in cotton production. With wheat, a few 
days only may be devoted to the harvest, and if 
the harvest period is extended, the loss will be 
great. With our hay crops, with corn, with tobac- 
co, the same thing is true: inevitable loss if the 
harvest work is not promptly done and done within 
narrow limits indeed. 

But with cotton it is different. Some loss, of 
course, follows, should picking be unreasonably 
postponed. Some of the cotton may be beaten into 
the ground by rains and the rest may be injured 
slightly in quality; still the work may be long de- 
layed without very serious damage. We have 
known crops in which the picking was not quite 
completed until the following spring, when the 



196 COTTON 

farmer began preparing for planting again. The 
full crop, we see, does not ripen at once. Again 
and still again harvest comes, and gives a long sea- 
son for the gathering of the crop from the earliest 
to the latest pickings. 

*'But is the production of cotton limited at the 
present time by the quantity that could be gather- 
ed .'^" is a question often asked. 

Here is the opinion of an expert : 

*' Excluding the population of towns and villages, 
who do a considerable share in cotton picking, and 
deducting one-third for children under eleven 
years of age, there remains an exclusively rural 
population in the Cotton States of over 6,800,000, 
all more or less occupied in cotton-growing, and 
capable, at the low average of 100 pounds daily, 
of picking more than 450,000 bales a day (or the 
crop of 1905 in three weeks) ; and if they continued 
picking at this rate through the whole season, they 
could gather four or five times as much as the 
largest crop ever yet made." 

COST OF PICKING 

Picking costs from forty cents to one dollar per 
hundred pounds of seed cotton — fifty cents being 
perhaps the usual price — and it takes three hun- 
dred pounds of seed cotton to make one hundred 
pounds of lint; that is to say, two-thirds of the 
weight of cotton when picked is seed. With an 
average price of seventy-five cents per hundred, 
the cost per pound for picking is 2.2 cents. With 
cotton selling at ten cents per pound, it is seen that 
more than one-fifth of this amount goes simply for 
labor of picking. As cotton sold for a number of 
years at six cents a pound, with the cost of picking 



COTTON 197 

only a little less than now, one can readily see what 
a factor in cotton production is this one item of 
gathering the crop. For wheat we may reckon 
one dollar as an average price. What would you 
think of 20 cents per bushel for labor in the har- 
vest field .'^ With cotton, too, it costs practically 
the same for picking whether the price is six, eight 
or ten cents per pound. Surely it is selling for 
little enough now. We read of the enormous value 
of the 1905 cotton crop, but it is well to remember 
that it cost the cotton farmer about seventy-five 
million dollars to gather it after the crop was grown. 

WEIGHING 

As the pickers fill their sacks they return to some 
convenient place where the sacks are emptied, and 
then back again they go to picking again, and thus 
they work for the greater part of the day. The 
cotton is emptied into baskets or put into piles on 
blankets or cloths of some sort. At night, or when 
the field is picked over, the owner weighs the picked 
cotton and either pays or credits each picker for 
the quantity gathered. Many of these piles are 
made; as many as there are individual families or 
pickers. It is the only way to determine the 
amount earned, which is then easily calculated. 
This cotton is called seed cotton, and after weigh- 
ing, it is hauled to the barn, "cotton house,'* or 
other place of storage. 

THE COTTON PICKER 

As has already been indicated, the draft on cot- 
ton profits is greatest for picking. We gather 



198 COTTON 

cotton to-day just as it was done in India a thou- 
sand years ago. Hand picking, hand harvesting, 
is not only the rule, but it is the only method of 
gathering the lint. 

Other crops have labor-saving devices in use in 
this final phase of their production. With wheat, 
corn, oats, potatoes, — all our leading crops, — while 
the cost of production has been lessened in our 
time, the cost of harvesting has been reduced many 
times. With cotton it is different. Slave labor 
passed; paid labor took its place. And labor cost 
is steadily increasing. It costs more to-day than a 
quarter of a century ago, more than it did a decade 
ago. 

The great hope of the South then lies in the di- 
rection of better labor-saving devices for lessening 
the cost of cotton production! Some will come, 
of course, for better preparation for the crop, and 
for its better culture, thereby increasing the yield : 
but the greatest improvement will be found when 
the cotton crop may be picked with somewhat the 
same independence of hand labor as obtains in the 
harvesting of other staple crops. 

You think this can never come ? 

We were fifty years producing the wheat har- 
vester, and from its nature — gathering grain, cutting 
it, and binding it — are not as many features included 
and complications involved as in the harvesting of 
cotton ? 

The cotton picker will come. In its experimen- 
tal stage now, it is not to be dismissed with a mere 
wave of the hand. It picks now. That much is 
certain. The time will come when it will pick 
profitably. 

The successful cotton picker has only to do the 
work efficiently and cheaply. It must be built to 



COTTON 199 

pick the open cotton without injury to plant or un- 
opened bolls. 

The fact that cotton opens slowly, necessitates, 
as has been seen, three, four, or even five pickings, 
and this complicates cotton harvesting: but if rows 
are placed at proper distances, fields planned for 
horse or steam drawn tools, the cotton picker may 
be operated twice or three times without serious 
mjury to plants or bolls. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

WHAT DOES IT COST TO MAKE COTTON? 

You may think it is an easy matter to calculate 
the cost of cotton-growing and the profits that are to 
come. But you will do well if you put a good 
deal of study on this problem, and then as a final 
proof that your solution is correct, make actual 
field tests, not for one but for many years. Nor 
need you then feel absolutely certain of your pro- 
cess of reasoning. 

Why do we say this ? 

Just remember this fact: you are dealing all the 
while with natural and artificial conditions, and 
while wise farm management endeavors to control 
these, it still remains true that cotton farming is 
dependent on natural causes which vary constantly, 
often to such an extent that the most careful cal- 
culations will be upset. 

For proof of this proposition you need consider 
only the production of cotton during the last few 
years. The yield in bales and production per acre 
is shown in the table following: 

YIELD OF COTTON 

Year Production, Product per acre, 

in bales pounds 

1898 11,235,383 240 

1899 9,439,559 189 

(200) 



**^-. 



^^^-^ 













:C;/- fe^ - 



;■ /-^*V^^ ^''^ ,C'- ■^■■'■ 
ii)-''"-'-.^ ■■■ ^ '■■■ -. -•- 






-i .9 



a E 



VX^ 






:^-^.y 



" d 

^ '3 





MAKING COTTON WITHOUT HAND CHOPPING. 

By the use of cultivators, harrows, etc., farmers are enabled to make good crops 
entirely without hand chopping — a great saving in cost. The bottom picture is- 
that of a field in which cotton ha.s been grown for fifty years. 





COTTON 




YIELD OF COTTON 




(Continued) 


Year 


Production, Product per acre, 




in bales pounds 


1900 


10,425,141 193 


1901 


10,701,433 186 


1902 


10,758,326 192 


1903 


10,123,886 170 


1904 


13,556,841 207 


1905 


10,697,013 205 



201 



No one needs to be told that these fluctuations 
were due to natural causes. The same farmers 
tilled the same kind of land, used the same kinds 
of fertilizers, followed the same methods of culture, 
picked the fiber in the same manner, during all these 
years. There is some fluctuation in acreage, to 
be sure, but we are now referring to the yield per 
acre. The difference in yield between 1903 and 
1904, for instance, is thirty-seven pounds per acre, 
or a variation of more than twenty per cent. In 
this case acreage did not influence the yield, since 
it was greater the year the largest area was planted. 
Neither smaller productivity of the land nor the 
grower's carelessness in culture could possibly have 
influenced these results unless they acted in keeping 
the differences within closer limits. The same 
wide difference is noted when the years 1898 and 
1899 are compared, only here the variation is even 
greater — 51 pounds, or a difference of more than 
thirty per cent. 

This inability on the part of the cotton farmer 
to control his output acts immensely to his dis- 
advantage not only in estimating his yearly ex- 
penses, but in marketing his crops as well. 

Quite different is it with the man who buys cot- 
ton and manufactures it. 



202 COTTON 

He is able to calculate with more accuracy. As 
a rule, he knows what his raw product will cost. 
He estimates what his operating expenses will be 
and sells his product, including his many items of 
expense, at a profit as great as competition will 
permit. While he has troubles to bother him, 
they are small indeed when compared with those 
of the farmer — troubles that begin even before the 
crop is started and only end when the last bale is 
sold. 

The mere fact that the quantity fluctuates, is 
enough to show that the farmer deals with factors 
beyond his control. 

Let us suppose a cotton factory produced one 
year 10,000,000 pounds of product, the next year 
12,000,000 pounds, the next year 7,500,000 pounds, 
and the next 9,000,000 pounds, all unexpected 
results, not in the calculation of the management: 
do you think if such results were produced, the 
manufacturer could make any very close estimate 
on the cost of 1,000 pounds of product; or do you 
think he could remain long out of bankruptcy, 
unless his profits some years were very great 
indeed ? 

But the manufacturer may even sell his product 
before he makes it. If he can arrange with his 
labor, and purchase his raw material, he knows 
within close limits just what his business will do 
during the year. With the farmer this can never 
be the case. He knows not twenty-four hours 
ahead that some insect may not damage his crop, or 
that some disease may not destroy it in part; nor 
does he know that wet weather may not come and 
injure bloom and boll and plant, or give him trouble 
with his ever-ready enemies, weeds and grass. 
One day he may be glad and rejoice for what his 



COTTON 203 

crop may do for him, but on the next, hope and 
expectancy may have departed. 

With exactness he cannot calculate — he can only 
anticipate, hope, plan for the best. 

The point is, the cotton farmer cannot estimate 
at the beginning of the year just what his total 
outlay for his crop will be; nor can he bargain on 
final yields or results. This, however, the manu- 
facturer can do, and he does so with advantage to 
himself . 

It follows that the farmer is entitled to the right 
of considerable margin as to cost of production 
when compared with the price it shall bring on the 
market. These risks which he has to encounter all 
along the growing route are just as legitimate for 
use in the final calculation as waste of fiber, vari- 
ation in cost of power, strikes, depreciation in 
equipment, etc., are essential factors in considering 
the final cost-estimate in the cotton factory. 

NATURAL CONDITIONS THAT INFLUENCE 
PRODUCTION 

Were it not for uncertain natural conditions 
cotton farming would be more stable in its ability 
to produce certain and constant results, and the 
farmer also would be able to calculate his profits 
on his labor and equipment in advance, and with 
reasonable accuracy. A few of these active, ever- 
present conditions are: 

Variation in productivity of the soil ; 

Wet or dry seasons; 

Diseases and insects affecting the crop adversely; 

Ease of securing labor, its cost and eflSciency ; 

Efficiency of fertilizers for different seasons ; 

Different tools of culture for different seasons ; 



204 COTTON 

Failure of other crops incidental to our system 
of cotton farming ; 

Uncertainty in knowledge of factors governing 
cotton growing ; 

Fluctuation in market value. 

All these and many other conditions influence 
the cost of production, either favorably or un- 
favorably, each and every year, — and to such an 
extent that final and sure results are still unknown 
until the crop is marketed. 

TWO PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS 

We will take two cases, not fictitious, but true 
ones; the farms are near together, similar in size, 
soil, environments, influenced by the same seasons 
and climatic conditions, accessible to the same 
markets. Will the cost of producing a pound of 
cotton be the same on both farms .? 

Let the figures speak for themselves; they are 
the results from two prominent cotton farms: 

EXPENSES IN COTTON PRODUCTION PER ACRE 

Items of Expense Farm A Farm B 

Plowing $1.50 $2.50 

Harrowing • ■ .50 .50 

Bedding and applying fertilizer . 2.00 1.00 

Planting 50 .75 

Chopping 2.00 1.50 

Cultivation 6.00 8.75 

Seed 50 .50 

Fertilizer 6.00 7.50 

Picking 4.20 4.60 

Ginning 1.00 1.00 

Other expenses 1.75 2.70 

Totals carried forward $25.95 $30.30 



COTTON 205 

EXPENSES IN COTTON PRODUCTION PER ACRE 

(Continued) 
Items of Expense Farm A Farm B 

Totals brought forward $25.95 $30.30 

Less value of seed 5.60 5.84 

Expenses in producing lint- ..... $20.35 $24.46 

Yield in pounds, lint cotton 350 365 

Expense per pound lint cotton.. . 5.8c 6.7c 

Market value lint at 10 cents. . . . $35.00 $36.50 

Receipts per acre above expense. . $14.65 $12.04 

The results on these two farms show a difference 
of nearly one cent a pound in cost of producing 
lint cotton, and here, too, rather good farming is 
done, since the yields obtained are nearly twice 
the average production for the Cotton Belt. 

But let us take other examples that more nearly 
correspond to the average for the whole country. 
Like the preceding two, they are also actual 
results produced on three average farms : 

EXPENSES IN COTTON PRODUCTION ON BASIS 
OF AN ACRE 

Items of Expense Farm C Farm D Farm E 

Plowing $1.25 $1.00 $1.00 

Harrowing 50 .50 .15 

Bedding and Adding Fer- 
tilizer 1.75 1.50 1.12 

Planting 40 .25 .25 

Chopping 50 1.50 .75 



Carried forward $4.40 $4 . 75 $3.27 



206 COTTON 

EXPENSES IN COTTON PRODUCTION ON BASIS 

OF AN ACRE (Continued) 

Items' of Expense Farm C Farm D Farm E 

Brought forward $4 . 40 $4 . 75 $3 . -27 

Cultivation 2.50 2.00 2.75 

Seed 50 .35 .25 

Fertilizer 3.75 3.00 2.00 

Picking 4.00 3.00 3.00 

Ginning 1.25 ,75 .Q5 

Other expenses 1.00 2.00 3.00 

Totals $17.40 $15.85 $14.92 

Less value of seed 4.80 3.20 3.00 

Expenses in producing 

lint $12.60 $12.65 $11.92 

Yield in pounds of lint 

cotton 300 200 250 

Expenses per pound of 

lint cotton 4.2c 5 . 8c 4 . 8c 

Market value lint at 10 

cents $30.00 $20.00 $25.00 

Receipts per acre above 

expense $17.40 $7.35 $13.08 

The results as shown in these instances give us 
an idea of the range in expense account on farms 
where the yield varies from one-half to three- 
quarters of a bale per acre. It will be seen that 
they represent neither extreme, and can be taken 
as showing about average results. 

We will now carry these estimates still further 
by considering statistical averages from a large 
number of sources, representing different soils, and 
different climatic conditions, in our several Cotton 
States. The results are as follows : 



COTTON 207 

AVERAGE EXPENSES IN COTTON PRODUCTION 

ON BASIS OF AN ACRE 
Items of Expense Many Farms 

Plowing $1 . 55 

Harrowing .52 

Bedding and Adding Fertilizers 1 . 65 

Planting .44 

Chopping 1 . 34 

Cultivation 3 . 75 

Seed 35 

Fertilizer 4 . 75 

Picking 4.55 

Ginning 1 . 35 

Other expenses 2 . 88 

Total $23.13 

Less value of seed • 4 . 72 

Average acre expense of producing lint ... $18.41 

Average yield of lint cotton in pounds , . . 296 

Expense per pound lint cotton 6 . 2c 

Market value of lint at 10 cents $29 . 69 

Receipts per acre above expense $11 . 10 

WHAT COST MEANS 

Estimates showing " cost of production" are free- 
ly made and often are misleading, because they are 
based solely on items of expense incidental to pro- 
ducing the crop during its growing period only. 
The cost of production ascertained in this manner 
is incomplete since it leaves out of consideration 
many items that are necessary and legitimate and 
which must be included if a fair and accurate 
statement is to be made. 

On many farms cotton is the only crop produced ; 
even feed for work stock (and this is not uncommon) 



208 COTTON 

and the work stock itself are not, home-produced, 
but purchased in the open market just as supphes 
and equipment are for the cotton factory. As a 
rule, work stock is permanent equipment for the 
cotton crop alone, and cotton must support it, 
just as land is permanent capital, and land is not 
employed during the whole of the year: there is no 
reason why they should be omitted in the final 
settlement. The investment is made and an al- 
lowance of interest must follow, teams must be fed, 
and the maintenance of the plant continued — all 
items of legitimate expense which must rightly be 
considered in calculating the real cost of produc- 
tion. 

"But why charge cotton with the support of 
teams during the winter season ?" you ask. 

Who will feed them.? Your neighbor will not, 
neither will the State. On most farms they belong 
to the cotton equipment. Of course, where they 
are employed for other purposes, a proper credit 
to cotton should be made, but in the winter season 
as a rule, both labor and teams are idle, and cotton 
should bear its part of this expense. 

You see there are other charges to be added to 
the amount required for the mere production of 
the crop. 

Here are a few that must be included : 
Taxation of land, tools, and teams. 
Allowances for interest on land, tools and 

teams. 
Allowance for depreciation of tools and teams. 
Maintenance of land and teams. 

Taxation: — On the basis of the product of one 
horse or mule, we have twenty acres of land, valued 
at fifteen dollars per acre; one working animal 
valued at one hundred and fifty dollars, and tools 




I— I 

I— 1 



^ :2 
S i 

(J M 



a p 








HOPE AND REALIZATION. 

Disking land preparatory to planting cotton; and the final cultivation before 
the crop is "laid by" in July. 



COTTON 209 

valued at about seventy-five dollars ; a total of five 
hundred and twenty-five dollars, — a reasonably 
low estimate, you will admit. On this amount 
taxes will be three dollars. 

Interest: — The investment should realize six 
per cent.: this is a simple business proposition 
with banks, as well as with all investing enterprises. 
This calls for a charge against cotton for thirty 
dollars. 

Depreciation: — The average working life of a 
horse or mule is ten years ; therefore the cotton crop 
here must make good an annual depreciation of fif- 
teen dollars, and also keep in repair stock, imple- 
ments, and tools, which on the cotton farm is at 
least ten dollars, or a total of twenty-five dollars. 

Maintenance: — At least twenty-five cents per 
acre is expended each year in maintaining the land. 
Terraces must be kept up, ditches must be opened, 
brush and shrubs cleaned away : a cost here of five 
dollars annually. Then the horse must be fed 
throughout the year. At least half the time he is 
non-supporting, and cotton should pay his bill for 
board. The occasional use will cover his care. 
Hence a charge of forty dollars is to be made: a 
total of forty-five dollars for the yearly expense of 
maintenance of land and stock. 

We get then the following additional amounts 
that must be included in the cost of cotton pro- 
duction : 

Taxation $3 . 00 

Interest 30 . 00 

Depreciation 25 . 00 

Maintenance 45 . 00 

Total $103.00 

Cost per acre 5.15 



210 COTTON 

This estimate is based on a cotton farm of twenty 
acres which produces an average of 200 pounds of 
lint cotton per acre or 4,000 pounds as a total prod- 
uct. These additional charges now should be 
added to the expense incurred during the six 
months of the growing season. When this addi- 
tional cost, on basis of calculation suggested, is 
included in the expense, we have obtained a figure 
that reasonably represents the cost per pound of 
cotton production as follows: 



Cost 

Growing 
Additiona 


Farm A 

5.8 
1 1.5 


FarmB 

6.7 
1.4 


FarmC 

4.2 
1.7 


FarmD 

5.8 
2.6 


FarmE A 

4.8 
2.0 


.11 others 

6.2 
1.7 



Totals 7.3 8.1 5.9 8.4 6.8 7.9 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COST AND MARKET 
PRICE 

So far in our estimate no allowance has been 
made for directive effort save in that of labor itself. 
But this the cotton farmer is entitled to, since he is 
both a laborer and a capitalist; when considered in 
connection with the value of his product, to a 
considerable extent, he is both. The difference re- 
maining between the cost of production and market 
value of the crop comes now as profit to cover such 
charges as are included in superintendency, in the 
duties of the producer as a citizen, in the risks he 
runs as to profit or loss in his enterprise, and in 
accumulating gain. 

RELATION OF OTHER EMPLOYMENT TO COTTON 
PRODUCTION 

The cotton farmer has a perfect right to carry on 



COTTON 211 

other farming enterprises as well as cotton. But 
they are separate and distinct in themselves. If 
he can so connect them with his cotton enterprise 
that these and cotton work to advantage so that 
the cost of production is lessened, that is his right 
and to his credit as a business man. But cotton 
farming must stand on its own feet and not exist 
at the expense of the cow or the pig. You may be 
sure, in case you think you are producing cotton 
very cheaply, that the tenant, or cord wood, or hay, 
the steer, or the old hen, one or all, are contributing 
very materially to the pocket that pays the cotton 
bills. 

RELATION OF COST TO SELLING PRICE 

Naturally some farms produce cotton more cheap- 
ly than do others. On a basis of cost, a reasonable 
selling price on the average is ten cents per pound ; 
it is mere wages when below that. Like other prod- 
ucts, cotton sells in the face of supply and demand. 
When earnestly wanted the farmer's accumulative 
gain is greater, but not out of the range of the very 
supplies he constantly purchases. 



SECTION III. 
MARKETING AND PRICES 



(213) 



CHAPTER XXV. 

PREPARING FOR MARKETING! THE WORK OF 
THE COTTON GIN 

Cotton production in the Southern States owes 
its great development to a simple invention which 
must be considered one of the greatest connected 
with the marvelous rise of American agriculture. 

When cotton is gathered from bolls it is known 
as seed cotton from the fact that it contains both 
seed and cotton lint — two-thirds seed to one-third 
lint. To prepare cotton therefore for the market 
and for commerce, it is necessary first to separate 
these two products. This work is now done by 
means of the gin. 

In 1790 but 3000 bales of cotton were produced 
in the Southern States: in the year 1904 more than 
13,000,000 bales were produced. 

Why this remarkable difference in production? 
Naturally the demands of the world have influenced 
this production; improved tillage and cultural 
tools have played a considerable part in lessening 
the cost; commercial fertilizers have increased 
yields without additional labor and with relatively 
small cost; but for an answer to our question we 
must go first of all to that invention which has 
made the name of Eli Whitney immortal. 

To the cotton gin the greatest credit must be 
given. With seed picked by hand, cotton produc- 

(215) 



216 COTTON 

tion could never have become a commercial enter- 
prise of more than local interest. With seed picked 
by hand cotton manufacturing would never have 
developed. Some other fiber — wool or flax — 
might have been King, but cotton never. 

It required the cotton gin — doing the work of 
picking by other power than by hand, — to develop 
this industry, and make it rank as second to none 
in all the world. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE COTTON GIN 

Eli Whitney, to whom the world credits the cot- 
ton gin, was a graduate of Yale and a native 
of Massachusetts. He possessed an inventive 
spirit and a full knowledge of mechanical devices. 
Seventeen hundred and ninety-two found him 
on his way to South Carolina where he ex- 
pected to follow teaching as a profession. But 
greater things were in store for him: his genius 
was to be directed in another way; a larger 
service to the race was to be his. For some 
reason his arrangements for teaching miscarried, 
and he was left without employment. He was in 
a strange land, he had no work to which he might 
go, and was without means to begin any new enter- 

Erise. Chance favored him, however. Soon after 
is arrival an invitation to visit a friend came to 
him. He accepted, and while sharing this hospi- 
tality with others who also came to enjoy the 
warmth of the South Carolina home, Whitney 
learned of the difficulties of the Southern planter, 
and especially of the great difficulty that stood in 
the way of the development and production of a 
great cotton crop. Just how this matter was pre- 
sented; in just what form it came to his attention. 



COTTON 217 

we do not know. Whether or not the thought had 
its birth in his fertile mind is also a mystery. But 
this matters not. He became interested in the 
great problem of profitable cotton production. 
Maybe this was a problem of the plantation where 
he resided; maybe the thought came as a chance 
suggestion. Be that as it may, he made the prob- 
lem his. He fitted up his shop and went to work. 
His educational equipment and his mechanical 
inclination favored him, and soon hope came, the 
clouds parted, the ideal became more than a fancy. 
Soon it was a reality, the cotton gin a material 
thing. 

Of course it was crude, undeveloped, only par- 
tially practical at first. The next year the patent 
was granted and given to the world. 

The germinal idea was alive, its incubation soon 
ended, the gin was born, soon to be a working suc- 
cess; soon to make an industry; soon to build an 
aristocracy; soon to make the fortunes of men and 
nations. 

One of the first inventors who contributed to the 
success and perfecting of the gin was Hodgin 
Holmes of Georgia. As early as 1796 he secured 
a patent on his gin which represented some use- 
ful features not possessed by the Whitney patent. 

THR MAGNITUDE OF THE INVENTION 

The cotton gin is an example, perhaps the most 
remarkable on record, of the power of a single 
labor-saving machine to influence the social and 
industrial interests, not merely of a nation, but in 
a great measure of the civilized world. "What 
Peter the Great did to make Russia dominant," 
says Ma<"aulay, "Eli Whitney's invention of the 



218 COTTON 

cotton gin has more than equalled in its relation 
to the power and progress of the United States." 

In reference to this invention and its effect on 
cotton manufacturing an early writer has this to 
say: 

"Its introduction at the particular period when 
the completion of the brilliant series of inventions 
for carding, spinning and weaving cotton had cre- 
ated a demand for the raw material, at once directed 
into a new and profitable channel the agriculture 
of the South, and at the same time furnished the 
manufacturing industry of Europe and America 
with one of the most valuable staples, and the ship- 
ping and commercial interests of the world with an 
enormous trade in its raw and manufactured pro- 
ducts. The increase in growth and exportation of 
new cotton which followed has no parallel in the 
annals of industry, save in the wonderful develop- 
ment of its manufacture in Europe and America.'* 

The effects in all their magnitude of the growth 
of cotton culture and manufacture in increasing 
material wealth, in furnishing employment to labor 
and capital, and in increasing the comfort of all 
classes, can hardly be conceived. 

THE EARLY GIN 

The gin in its early days consisted of a series of 
fine tooth circular saws fastened upon a wooden 
cylinder about three-fourths of an inch apart, 
and revolving in slits cut in a steel plate, less than a 
quarter of an inch wide. A mass of cotton in the 
seed is laid on this plate. As the saws revolve 
the teeth passing down between the openings, pull 
off the lint from the seed and carry it through with 
them, the openings being narrow enough to pre- 



COTTON 219 

vent the seed from passing through with the lint. 
On the lower side of the cylinder set with saws is 
a revolving brush which takes off the lint as it comes 
through the saw teeth, and a blast from a revolving 
fan carries it back through a flue into a lint room 
in the rear of the machine. This is the essential 
principle of the Whitney gin as well as of all suc- 
ceeding ones that have yet been made. 

PRESENT DAY GINNING 

There are two kinds of gins used at the present 
time : roller and saw. The former, old long before 
Whitney's saw gin was invented, is used for ginning 
Sea Island cotton, while the saw gin is always used 
for the upland varieties. Seed of Sea Island cot- 
ton, it must be remembered, are loose in the lint, 
smooth and clean, — as contrasted with upland 
seed to which the lint is as firmly attached as 
barnacles to a log. Hence the need of two forms 
of ginning. 

The cotton gin is by no means perfect yet: it 
leaves too much dirt and trash in the lint during 
the process of separation from the seed. Whether 
perfection in this direction is at all possible, the 
future only can say; but at present the waste in 
form of dirt, weak fibers, seed and leaf is a mat- 
ter of considerable consequence. The gins now 
used also cut the lint badly, thereby seriously dam- 
aging it for manufacturing purposes. With the 
coming of improvements, cotton ginning has be- 
come an industry, almost separate and distinct 
in itself. 

Not many years ago nearly every plantation had 
its own gin: but there were many items of expense 
which made the small gin too expensive. It was 



220 COTTON 

operated but a small part, not only of each year, 
as must be true of all gins, but only a small part of 
the ginning season; parts got out of repair, and in- 
terest on the investment amounted to much when 
the small returns from ginning the crop of a single 
plantation were considered. 

Once it was thought that portable ginning out- 
fits, like portable threshing outfits, would be practic- 
able, but too much power was needed; there was too 
much expense connected with the transportation, 
especially where but few bales were ready to be 
ginned; too great difficulty in the way of securing 
fuel and water, and too many interruptions due 
to bad weather and poor roads. 

THE STATIONARY GIN 

The small farm gin was costly, the portable gin 
impracticable; and so the larger stationary gin 
came as a necessity as well as the solution of a 
vexing problem. 

The numerous inventions incident to the com- 
pletion of the ginning idea, the labor-saving devices 
in many directions, the rapidity of ginning and 
baling by the gins of greater capacity, have estab- 
lished the large stationary gin as a prominent part 
of the equipment of the cotton industry. 

The farmer may now haul his seed cotton to the 
gin in an open wagon box, the suction tubes will 
suck the cotton up, the carrying belts will carry it 
to the saws, and the lint will go at once to the com- 
press, giving the owner his cotton back in baled 
form in a few minutes after the wagon is emptied. 

The old hand method made but a pound of lint 
daily: the hand gin increased the working efficiency 
to half a modern bale per man; the old plantation 



COTTON 221 

Eower gin further increased the quantity to several 
ales; and now the consolidated high power ma- 
chine is common where 50 to 75 bales, and in some 
cases even as much as 250 bales, are daily ginned 
and baled. 

This is indeed wonderful evolution. 

THE SUCTION ELEVATOR 

The suction elevator has done much in increas- 
ing the daily capacity of gins. Think of the labor 
required for carrying from the wagon by hand all 
the seed cotton produced any season — and now a 
simple device does it all, effectively, quickly, eco- 
nomically. 

"What is the extent of this saving.?" we once 
asked an expert. 

*'To this extent," he replied, "three hands to a 
gin of say 60 saws, making four hundred revolu- 
tions per minute — the speed producing the best 
staple — would turn out six bales in a day of 10 
hours. With the suction elevators, the same num- 
ber of hands with much less labor, can attend to 
four or five gins and turn out 24 to 30 bales in the 
same time." 

THE ITEM OF SPEED 

Cotton comes from the gin in the best condition 
if speed is kept within moderate limits. The ten- 
dency to run the gin at high speed increases the 
output but lessens the value of the lint. Here, 
then the interests of the farmer and ginner are at 
variance — unless the farmer is willing to recognize 
the value of cotton ginned at low speed by paying 
more for such service. 

High speed strains and even breaks fibers, and 



222 COTTON 

allows waste matter to become mixed with the lint. 
The old gin, when run by horse power, was not 
open to this objection urged against high steam 
power. Then you never heard of cut or broken 
fibers or of crimped or knotted lint such as is now 
caused by the impact of the saws when the cylinders 
rotate at a high speed. 

About four hundred revolutions per minute is 
considered a reasonable speed, and this leaves 
the lint product in fairly good physical condition. 

THE BALING PROCESS 

While the baling process has no direct connec- 
tion with ginning, it is now a part of the gin equip- 
ment, and so may be considered as belonging to 
this operation preparatory to marketing. 

Like the gin, the baling press has been materi- 
ally improved in rapidity and in efficiency. The 
large compresses put a large quantity of fiber into 
a small bulk, thus promoting ease of transportation. 

Freight rates, you know, are regulated by bulk 
as well as by weight. Hence, this leads naturally 
to the demand for a bale carrying as large a quan- 
tity of lint as possible in a given amount of space. 
The following data showing the average weights 
of bales for 100 years illustrate this : 

In 1800 average bale, weight 225 pounds; 1810, 
250 pounds; 1820, 264 pounds; 1833, 339 pounds; 
1839, 385 pounds; 1849, 400 pounds; 1859, 445 
pounds; 1869, 440 pounds; 1879, 453 pounds; 1889, 
477 pounds; 1899, 499 pounds. 

Cotton brokers and shippers naturally prefer 
a bale of great density, and of such shape as will 
pack easily in cars and steamboats. 

As a rule, the American bale is not prepared 



COTTON 223 

with such care as its importance demands. It now 
comes in all sizes, varies greatly as to weight, may 
or may not have been damaged by rain and ex- 
posure. Then, too, it is poorly covered. Often 
the covering is torn, allowing the lint to drop out, 
subjecting the American bale to the charge that it 
is " the clumsiest, dirtiest, most expensive and most 
wasteful package in which cotton, or in fact any 
commodity of like value, is anywhere put up." 

What do you do with your cotton when it comes 
back from the gin ? Your neighbors put theirs 
under the apple tree or in the barn lot, or in some 
open exposed place, where rain and dust attack 
and damage it ; even pigs are allowed access to cot- 
ton bales as places to clean their muddy backs. 

This constant loss is of course the farmer's, 
and no one else's. Even the waste due to bagging 
and ties is the farmer's loss, although he seldom 
realizes it. The usual tare percentage is placed 
at six, which means a reduction of 24 pounds for a 
400 pound bale, and 30 pounds for a 500 pound 
bale. While this feature of tare is but slightly 
discussed or considered in this country, it always 
calls for a deduction in the great manufacturing 
centers abroad and so has its effect on cotton prices. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

marketing: the trip to the spindle 

Having come this far in all seriousness of spirit 
may we not turn now to something a little lighter — 
perhaps even to a nonsense verse? K so, — well, 
you remember the old nursery rhyme, that runs : 

"Jack and Jill went up the hill. 
To get a pail of water; 
Jack fell down and broke his crown. 
And Jill came tumbling after." 

In a large sense this expresses the situation that 
confronts the cotton farmer in handling his crop. 
You and I and every man who produces cotton 
must first go up the hill. Like Jack and Jill we 
go there for a purpose; ours is to produce a crop 
that shall, we hope, enable us to keep our farms in 
a good producing condition ; our houses and barns 
in repair; our reading tables reasonably furnished 
with papers, magazines and books ; our family with 
food and raiment; our children with the advantages 
of education for culture and professional efficiency. 
We have a right to expect these rewards. Jack 
and Jill no doubt knew that water was there; we 
at least know that the kind we want is there. But 
it is hard to get it. The road that leads to the top 
of the hill is a difficult one. That this was so with 
the one that Jack and Jill went up, is evidenced by 
the fact that " Jack fell down and broke his crown." 
It was a steep, rocky road, no doubt ; rough and dif- 

(224) 



COTTON 225 

ficult of access. And isn't the road of the cotton 
farmer steep and rough and difficult? And so 
long, too. Six months and more are necessary to 
cover the distance; a thousand difficulties are met 
on the way ; late frosts in the spring, and early ones in 
the fall before the crop matures ; often unduly wet 
weather or unduly dry weather materially lessen the 
crop ; insufficient and inefficient labor bother and 
interfere ; expenses for labor, seed, fertilizers, imple- 
ments, and tools, often come at the sacrifice of the 
legitimate comforts and needs of the family : surely 
the road is beset with difficulty and danger all the 
way we must follow in reaching the top. 

For Jack and Jill the top possessed water; for 
the cotton farmer the top — the end of his journey — 
is the market. He is entitled, at least, to water 
while on the top, enough to take him down the hill 
again, a sufficient quantity for those dependent 
upon him at home, and in quantities sufficient to 
supply not only real needs, but all purposes of com- 
fort and even those of luxury; besides this, he is 
entitled to enough to last him on his trip up the 
hill again, and to supply his family until he returns 
with a fresh supply. 

Are you going to reject this philosophy ? 

Is it not the kind practiced and preached by every 
other industry — the railroad, the cotton factory, 
the coal, iron, and steel industries, by every manu- 
facturing and industrial concern ? 

Are not its precepts illustrated in the tenets of 
every professional creed — the merchant's, the doc- 
tor's, the banker's, or the publisher's ? 

All accept this doctrine save the farmer — and 
what is more, they practice it. 

Take the railroad. Its preachments are all to 
the effect that its capital is entitled to a reasonable 



226 COTTON 

annual reward. In practice it goes further and not 
only grants this on its real investment, but includes 
dividends on a fictitious, watered capital as well. 

Take the trust. It secures not only its legitimate 
share of the water at the top of the hill, but through 
all sorts of schemes and tricks secures a great deal 
more. 

Take the man in exchange or in business. He 
meets with his fellow workers; he organizes and 
plans that competition may be met; that he may 
thus secure his share of water, and further that his 
share shall be protected for all future years. 

Then take the farmer — the cotton farmer. He 
m.eets not with his fellows; he organizes not; he 
goes to the top of the hill alone ; his part of the road 
is roughest of all; and when he gets there he is 
alone; it is dark and only with difficulty does he find 
water. At other times so many others are at the 
source of supply, and so well organized, that they 
crowd him back and away. 

So he takes what is offered and returns on his 
homeward journey. 

Going still further with our nonsense verse, we 
also discover that "Jack fell down and broke his 
crown, and Jill — she tumbled after." 

And here is the danger place in cotton produc- 
tion: the crop is produced, too much goes on the 
market all at once, or the market is manipulated, 
and over it goes. Jack fell and broke his crown. 
How many cotton farmers, think you, are ruined, 
because the cost of production — the trip up the 
hill — is more than the market place gives them ? 

But there is more to our story yet: When Jack 
fell down, "Jill came tumbling after." When 
cotton goes down, not only that man whose crop 
costs more than he secured for it is injured, but 



COTTON 227 

his neighbor who made a Httle on his crop, his 
banker, his merchant, his friends in other lines of 
work, are injured as well. But the result is even 
more far-reaching; the manufacturers who make 
the cotton farmer's clothing, his tools and imple- 
ments, who supply him with all the necessities, 
suffer as well. The farmer falls down, and the 
rest come tumbling after. 

HELP IN THE DIRECTION OF ORGANIZATION 

It is not wrong to organize. The principle is 
commercially and morally correct. Organization 
is helpfulness. Cotton farmers need the spirit of 
helpfulness. They will profit by it as much as any 
class, for it will bring a new meaning to cotton pro- 
duction ; it will secure, as it is doing now, reasonable 
rewards for the effort expended ; a fuller and better 
life will follow for the home on the cotton farm. 

Organization may direct itself along many lines ; 
it will look to the stability of the home market; it 
will seek for new markets; it will regulate supply 
in accordance with legitimate demands; it will 
seek to lower the cost of production so as to increase 
the margin of profit. All these things come with 
rightly managed organization. 

HOW THE FARMER MARKETS HIS CROP 

Cotton is sold both in the bale and as seed cotton, 
although the first named method is the rule. It is 
the most desirable and satisfactory plan, since it 
necessarily leaves the seed with the farmer to whose 
soil it rightly belongs. While it is true that if cot- 
ton lint sells for ten cents per pound, it is easy to 
calculate its worth in seed cotton, still this can be 



228 COTTON 

done only with reasonable accuracy, subjecting 
the method to some degree of criticism. Since the 
gin and the press are so available now, there is no 
reason why every farmer should not sell his lint 
in the bale rather than in any other form. 

BORROWING ON THE CROP IS BAD BUSINESS 

An interesting economic development has come 
with the rise of the cotton industry. It concerns 
itself with cotton factors who advance money to the 
needy cotton grower, taking as security a lien on 
his crop. The usual advance is ten dollars or more 
on the bale, given at the highest legal rate of inter- 
est. Without this help of the cotton factor, many 
people would be unable to purchase seed, fertilizer, 
feed, teams and stock, and so produce a crop. By 
borrowing on the crop they are able to tide over the 
space of time intervening until marketing of the 
crop arrives. Of course, this is bad business; 
while it is profitable for the cotton factor, it is ruin- 
ous for the grower, and consequently injurious to 
the community. When the crop is harvested it may 
be sold at once, the factor paid, and the balance 
credited in the bank to the cotton grower. 

This balance, during the good year, may be sufiB- 
cient to start the tenant or other grower the next 
spring, and even carry him to the close of a second 
crop; or it maybe so small, that he will with diflSculty 
be able to live through the winter, and begin a new 
crop. Often it is necessary for tenant, or the other- 
wise poor farmer, to begin borrowing early in the 
year to meet bare necessities. When good seasons 
come, this crop lien business is of smaller propor- 
tions, but with poor seasons such advances are 
great and consequently burdensome to the grower. 





WAITINCr TURNS AT THE GIN. 

In the busy season, October and November — cotton goes to the gin more rapid- 
ly than it can be handled. The seed cotton is then stored temporarily in bins made 
for that purpose. 




A LOOK ON THE INSIDE. 

It has been said that the average farmer "takes as Uttle care of a cotton bale 
as if it were a grindstone." Now, however, storage warehouses are becoming popu- 
lar. In the second view we have the interior of a gin. 



COTTON 229 

With good prices the custom is now fast passing 
away. 

STORING COTTON 

At harvest time not all cotton is sold at once; 
some is hauled back to the farm or stored in the 
warehouse, and held for the expectant advance in 
price. The farmer who has borrowed on his crop 
usually stores in the warehouse that the cotton fac- 
tor may have an eye on the bale. The storage 
cost varies from ten to fifty cents per bale, depend- 
ing on the length of time it is kept in storage. In- 
surance must be considered as well, for much loss 
follows as a result of fire. The total cost for selling, 
storage, and insurance varies from $1.00 to $2.00 
for each and every bale. 

Where cotton is taken back to the farm, there 
are, of course, no storage charges, and insurance is 
usually at the owner's risk. While many farmers 
do store their cotton in places of shelter, the major- 
ity do not, but simply pile it out in the open or under 
the home-yard tree. 

Remember that cotton, although not a perishable 
product, is susceptible to deteriorating influences 
of weather and the elements, just as other field 
crops are, even if in a less degree; and when long ex- 
posed to weather, the quality suffers to such an 
extent as to make a material difference in price. 
This loss, when measured for the entire cotton 
crop, assumes enormous porportions. 

This, too, is one of the most unnecessary and 
inexcusable leaks on our cotton farms. If you 
protect your cotton thoroughly from the time it is 
delivered at home in the bale to the delivery time 
on the market, you will save enough to cover all 



230 COTTON 

rental and investment charges, and so make a 
warehouseman's projfit for yourself. 

IN THE MARKET PLACE 

Cotton is often sold at the warehouse or elsewhere 
through an agent, whose charge is on the average 
of one dollar per bale. As a rule, the farmer makes 
his own sale, one or more buyers bidding for his 
product. 

With the coming of cotton factories throughout 
the cotton-producing States, a market is provided 
at first-hand, enabling the producer to sell direct 
to the mills. Wherever this opportunity exists, it 
gives satisfactory results to both parties. The 
farmer profits, since the factory saves agents' 
charges for buying, drayage and freight, and this 
ends wholly to the advantage of the farmer or to 
the mutual advantage of both. 

But since the greater part of the cotton crop goes 
North or abroad, some intermediary factors must 
exist in order to handle this enormous business. 
Usually this is done by exporting companies, which 
are financed by heavy capital, and whose sole busi- 
ness is to move the cotton from producer to 
consumer. 

MARKET GRADES OF COTTON 

Cotton as sold on the market is first classified 
into several different grades, and like all the prod- 
ucts of commerce, its value is measured by intrin- 
sic worth, merit and quality. Nor does it follow 
that because cotton has a market classification 
which includes all cotton grown, that the seller re- 
ceives its true market value. While there is such 




COrrON AF'iEU liALLNG. 
Much cotton is left on the platform in the open — or worse, flat on the ground ; 
in the second view a farmer's crop is being put into a warehouse. 



s^ 




^ '4;''^* 

m 





" HOW MUCH DO I GIT AT FIFTY SAINTS A HUND'ED ?" 

Her task finished the picker is waiting to have her basket weighed. Then she 
will know how much she has earned by the day's labor — at 50 cents a hundred 
pounds. 



COTTON 231 

a classification for every sort of American cotton, 
the buyer endeavors to get the product as cheaply 
as possible, and the producer tries to get as much 
for his lint as possible. Ordinarily the judgment 
rests solely with the buyer. He classes fiber as he 
thinks it should be classed, or as he chooses to class 
it, and offers a market price for that grade of cotton. 
You can readily see that where only a single buyer 
is present, and especially if that one be unscrupu- 
lous to some degree, considerable loss may come 
to the producer and a corresponding gain to the 
buyer. Naturally there are tricks in buying cotton 
as there are tricks in other trades, and honesty and 
business integrity find recognition in the cotton 
market as they do elsewhere in life. 

The most satisfactory selling is done where sev- 
eral buyers are on hand, and this competition as a 
rule means that the highest prices will be offered. 
Of course even in this case buyers may join hands 
and one do most of the buying one day, another a 
second day, and so on, each taking his turn and 
getting his cotton at the lowest price. But the 
daily paper now gives the farmer the prices in the 
leading markets of the world, and with the railways 
making transportation to better markets easy, he 
usually secures what his product is worth, or at 
least the market value of the grade in which it is 
classed. 

The variety of cotton has nothing to do with the 
market classification. One variety may be classed 
"good middling," for instance, another variety "low 
middling," in the market scale, because of its in- 
dividual superiority or inferiority as the case may 
be. 

This classification is fixed by market conditions 
as follows: 



232 COTTON 

FAIR MIDDLING 

Barely Fair Barely Middling 

Strict Middling Fair Strict Low Middling 
Fully Middling Fair Fully Low Middling 

MIDDLING FAIR LOW MIDDLING 

Barely Middling Fair Barely Low Middling 
Strict Good Middling Strict Good Ordinary 
Fully Good Middling Fully Good Ordinary 

GOOD MIDDLING GOOD ORDINARY 

Barely Good Middling Barely Good Ordinary 
Strict Middling Strict Ordinary 

Fully Middling ordinary 

Low Ordinary 
Inferior. 

It will be seen that grades are known as full 
grades, half grades, and quarter grades, although 
the quarter grades are used very seldom in classify- 
ing the fiber. In the classification as given here 
the grades in capital letters are the full grades, the 
half grades being indicated by the prefix "strict," 
and quarter grades by the prefixes "barely" and 
"fully." 

"Middling" grade is the one universally used 
in all cotton deals. When a price is made, it is 
given on the basis of middling grade. All cotton 
contracts or "futures" call for middling, and it 
becomes the standard in exchange. This does not 
signify, however, that contracts may not be filled 
with other grades, but in case a superior or inferior 
grade is furnished, the prices become proportion- 
ately higher or lower, as the case may be. 

The buyer's judgment must be good, else his 
classification may be incorrect, and consequently 
may lead to loss. 



COTTON 233 

It is of importance to the farmer that he be ac- 
quainted with the market grades of cotton, just as 
the shoe dealer must be acquainted with the several 
grades of shoes he sells, or the merchant acquainted 
with the several grades of cloth that he markets 
over the counter. 

The market end of cotton production is an im- 
portant one; and to see that it should receive more 
attention than it has, we have only to consider that 
most cotton is hauled to market, submitted to the 
buyer, and his offer accepted without being further 
substantiated, either by the seller's judgment or by 
that of any one else. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE UNCEASING CONTEST BETWEEN BULLS AND 

BEARS 

Long years ago, before the coming of the tele- 
graph and the cable, and when the greater part of 
the cotton crop was produced in America and sold 
abroad, it was the custom of European spin- 
ners, either to send their agents to this country, or 
to depend upon those already here, to buy and ship 
cotton for their use. As trade increased in volume, 
and competition increased in intensity, however, 
better methods were required — methods that 
should be more certain and more constant in their 
results. Hence, these old ways of doing this were 
not in keeping with the progress and advancement 
of other lines of industry. The old methods no 
longer worked with satisfaction, and so gradually 
became obsolete in practice. 

With the increase in the business of selling and 
exporting cotton by reason of the large proportions 
which the foreign trade attained, a class of wealthy 
merchants entered the field and began purchasing 
cotton whenever they thought prices safe, contin- 
uing their operations from the beginning of the 
picking season until after its close. This purchased 
cotton they held with the expectation of consider- 
able reward for their labors and for the necessary 
risks incidental to the transaction. 

(234) 



COTTON 235 

While this was a legitimate enterprise, it was 
nevertheless largely speculation, each merchant 
gaining or losing in proportion as his judgment was 
good or bad. 

LEGITIMATE AND ILLEGITIMATE SPECULATION 

This sort of speculation all of us are given to: 
the merchant who purchases early in the season 
because he anticipates higher prices later; the far- 
mer who secures feeding stock in the belief that 
prices will advance, netting him a profit greater 
than the mere value of the finished animal at the 
time of purchase; the housekeeper who purchases 
coal in summer, believing that with the coming of 
winter prices to the consumer will advance; the 
consumer of any commodity who looks ahead and 
anticipates a higher price than that commodity 
is then commanding — each is engaging in specu- 
lation, pure and simple, but nevertheless doing a 
legitimate thing, dictated by wisdom and foresight. 

Let this idea of speculation be distinguished from 
the professional speculative phase which approach- 
es or is in every sense a ' gamble." When you 
make a purchase of real estate you may do so be- 
cause of immediate needs: or you may make the 
purchase in expectation of a rise in value : you have 
need for it now or anticipate a demand for this 
holding in the future. It is now worth something 
to you — you anticipate that it will be worth more 
at a future time; hence you make your purchase. 
If your judgment is good, if it is accurate, you profit 
on your risk; if otherwise, you may lose. This 
trade — this phase of business or commerce — is 
entirely consistent with morals, with commercial 
standing, with business principles. 



236 COTTON 

Furthermore you apply this principle in the 
purchase of all your supplies — all needs ; you secure 
your luxuries as well as your necessities when you 
think the time and the place are best. 

THE manufacturer's POLICY 

The manufacturer does likewise. He goes to 
the market for his supplies at the time when he 
considers the market at its lowest point. In this 
the cotton spinner is not different from other men; 
if the market points to an advance in price, he will 
make his purchase now. But he runs a risk; his 
needs are many, his supplies costly, and prices may 
not advance; they may even decline. When this 
turn is taken, loss naturally follows and often to 
such an extent that all profits are absorbed in the 
loss. To reduce these risks to a minimum, and 
also to arrange so that but a margin of the value 
would be required for protection, contracts were 
early arranged which allowed a spinner to buy his 
cotton on the basis of future delivery. This device 
of trading in contracts for the future delivery of 
cotton was quickly adopted by the trade, especially 
by those concerned either with the movement or 
consumption of cotton. An exceedingly gratify- 
ing advantage to the spinner was this, for now he , 
might estimate the quantity of cotton needed at a 
certain time, make his purchase on the basis of a 
future delivery, and in the meantime continue the 
manufacture and sale of his products. Knowing 
the amount of the manufacturing expenses, and 
now just what his cotton in the raw would cost four, 
six, eight or ten months in advance, he could estab- 
lish his selling price, make his purchases and his 
sales, and all the while be relieved of worry over 



COTTON 237 

troubles incident to movement, storage, insurance, 
and other risks. 

So far then we have found no objection. Spec- 
ulation you may call it, but legitimate; since a 
commodity has been purchased for real actual con- 
sumption. But at this point a new actor struts 
upon the stage — one not concerned with the pro- 
duction, consumption, or movement of cotton; it 
is the professional speculator who sees an oppor- 
tunity to take advantage of a peculiar condition of 
trade, and who, if he is careful and wise, is certain 
to profit by his anticipation of the way in which the 
law of supply and demand will likely operate; he 
will meet this condition by ascertaining in advance 
in every way possible, the probable direction this 
fundamental law will take. 

THE COMING OF THE COTTON EXCHANGE 

So great was this new feature in the movemenf 
of cotton from producer to consumer that it became 
necessary to bring form out of chaos: it must be 
organized, else it might break itself into pieces. 
And there was too much good, too much intrinsic 
worth in it, for this to happen. 

Consequently in the early 70's Cotton Exchanges 
were formed in New York, New Orleans, Liver- 
pool, operated under rules and regulations intended 
to protect their own members and facilitate the 
trade of buying and selling cotton. The central 
idea in these exchanges was to provide machinery 
that might facilitate the dealings in "options" or 
''futures" as they have always been called. 

And what do these terms mean ? We will ask 
a member. He says: "They are called options 
because the cotton contracted for is deliverable at 



238 COTTON 

the option of the seller at any time during the month 
for which it is sold, and they are called futures, 
because, as a rule, the contracts traded in are those 
which call for a delivery of the cotton at some fu- 
ture period." 

COTTON CONTRACTS 

The contract of the Cotton Exchange is in essen- 
tials a legal sale and purchase of cotton like other 
contracts, written or verbal, which call for a change 
in the ownership of any commodity. The cotton 
contract stipulates in writing that 50,000 pounds 
in about one hundred square bales are sold or 
bought, as the case may be, at a stated price, pay- 
ment to be made at or before some specified future 
period, usually at the end of the calendar month. 
One of the stipulations of this kind of contract is 
that the cotton must be delivered within the month 
and the buyer must receive and pay for it. There 
is no option about the contract except as to the 
time the seller may fulfill it. The New York con- 
tract calls for the delivery at the seller's option upon 
three days' notice to the buyer, the delivery to be 
made from one warehouse. The New Orleans 
contract gives the buyer five days' notice of delivery 
and allows the seller to deliver from cotton presses 
and railroad depots, and from two places. These 
contracts are made on the basis of Middling Up- 
lands ; when the cotton is of better grade, a higher 
price is paid by the purchaser — and a lower price, 
of course, if the staple be below the market grade. 
Thus, on the face of the contract, any sort of cotton 
between Fair and Good Ordinary may be delivered. 
Another feature of the contract is the right of either 
party to call for a margin as the variation of the 



COTTON 239 

market for like deliveries may warrant, which 
margin must be kept good. 

Such is the cotton contract. Legal it is, and 
almost a product in its own right. It stands for 
cotton, but is sold and bought because of itself, 
fluctuating more widely and frequently than the 
real product. 

Since the principle of trading in cotton contracts 
began in its crudeness a quarter of a century ago, 
it has expanded to such proportions that, in the 
words of one of the Exchange members, "during 
the present season it is estimated that the total 
number of bales represented by the options bought 
and sold in the three great markets, is in excess of 
four hundred million, or practically forty times the 
entire American production. This does not mean 
that each bale of cotton has been sold forty times 
over, but it does mean that contracts for the future 
delivery of forty times this year's crop have been 
traded in." 

HOW THE CONTRACT WORKS 

While cotton contracts call for the delivery of 
cotton, it is a fact that real cotton is seldom deliv- 
ered. The seller when selling the contract never 
expected to deliver the commodity, and the pur- 
chaser never expected to receive it. In fact, the 
seller did not actually have in his possession any 
cotton at all; and the purchaser, if cotton were 
delivered to him, would not know what to do with 
it. It would not be going too far to say that some 
of these sellers and buyers have never seen a bale 
of cotton ; they might even not know what one looks 
like. 

All of these market features have had to do with 



240 COTTON 

contracts solely. There has been no transfer of 
property. In fact, neither party during any part 
of the transaction has owned any property — except 
the paper on which the contract was written. This 
over-trading feature is unreasonable speculation 
of the kind which works to the disadvantage of 
legitimate trade, and causes prices to be advanced 
or depressed without a single act to justify the 
change in right and morals. 

On the other hand, as we have previously sug- 
gested, cotton contracts for future delivery may be 
helpful to the producer, the manufacturer and the 
merchant, since they tend to distribute the move- 
ment of cotton through a period of twelve months 
instead of through a few months only, as might 
be the case now were cotton sold and moved 
immediately upon its being gathered. The pro- 
ducer would naturally suffer because of the con- 
gested condition of the market. The spinner would 
profit, since this congested condition would seem 
to be to his advantage; but in case the spinner 
should under-buy, he would find it necessary to 
pay excessive prices — because the annual market 
season would be closed and the speculator would 
hold the key to the door. Under the present system 
the market is open throughout the twelve months — ■' 
a condition advantageous alike to both producer 
and consumer. 

THE EXCHANGE AND THE SPINNER 

The Cotton Exchange has therefore, a side fa- 
vorable to the spinner. With him cotton is a real- 
ity: he purchases it for use in his spinning opera- 
tions, and in the course of six, eight, or ten months 
it will be purchased by the ultimate consumer. 



COTTON 241 

During the time consumed in the operations from 
raw material to finished product, capital is locked 
up with no return until the final sale. To meet 
daily and monthly requirements, the spinner se- 
cures his cotton. So close is the margin of profit 
that any material increase in price in the raw shape 
may act to his disadvantage, even to such an extent 
as to wipe out his profits entirely. To protect 
these profits he can purchase contracts for future 
delivery which will enable him to figure actual cost 
in his estimates — ^just what price the raw product 
will command at some future time. It insures him 
on actual cost, protects him if an advance does take 
place. All the while, too, he has not been obliged 
to secure large quantities of cotton to be stored and 
looked after from day to day; he is saved all this 
trouble, risk, and expense. 

Briefly then, the contract for cotton for future 
delivery enables the spinner to secure his raw ma- 
terial any time during the year, and safeguards 
him against a time, if such should come, when it 
sells for an abnormally high price. It should be 
remembered, however, that the market may be 
so manipulated as to force prices for future delivery 
to such heights as to threaten his profits, unless he 
has continued to insure and protect his takings by 
constant buying and selling, thus putting him on 
the defensive and in the tread-mill of speculation 
as well. These constant fluctuations day after day 
the year round are the evil influences at work, often 
to the spinner's advantage and as often to his 
disadvantage. 

WHAT OF THE PRODUCER.? 

The producer may at times imagine that trading 



242 COTTON 

in cotton contracts is to his interest; indeed there 
are times when such trading does operate to his 
advantage. But the cotton farmer should remem- 
ber that the machinery of the Cotton Exchange 
was not put in operation as a means of helping 
him. The organization came about solely as a 
provision for facilitating trading in cotton con- 
tracts, and not with any purpose of decreasing the 
cost of production or of increasing the selling price 
of the commodity. It was organized for al- 
together different objects, and by those altogether 
unconcerned with the production of cotton. 

Don't be deceived, therefore, into thinking that 
when cotton futures advance in price, it is an effort 
to bring profits to the producer. On the other 
hand, the speculator is assuming these risks neither 
for the fun of it nor for charity ; it is of gain for him- 
self that he is thinking. Every unreasonable 
advance in price is as full of evil to the producer as 
an unreasonable depression in price. The "cor- 
ner" profits but few farmers, because the bulk of 
cotton is already in the hands of the merchants and 
speculators; hence the farmer has an apparent 
reward only in the fact that the price has materially 
advanced beyond normal limits. While this is 
seemingly favorable to the producer, it acts only 
as a stimulus to larger acreage the following sea- 
son—and by this time the corner has long exploded, 
leaving in its wake a depressed market to mark its 
track, and to receive the new supply (which is 
probably more than the demand calls for). Thus 
the price descends to still lower depths: the latest 
crop, in all its magnitude and with all its labor and 
cost is now worth much less than its more modest 
predecessor. 

But the Cotton Exchange has two sides favorable 




STAGES OF COTTON PICKING. 

Because otherwise the fleecy locks cannot be seen for the green leaves, most 
pictures show picking only after frost; but it really begins long before the plants 
cease growing and blossoming. 




< - 
z - 

s I 

pi 

81 
SI 

H - 
Z o 

?=^, ^ 

> 3 



COTTON 243 

to the farmer's interests, whether or not other con- 
siderations counterbalance them. 

These are: first, the extended activity of the 
market from a short period to an entire year; and 
the second, a demand for cotton created by the 
Cotton Exchanges in their business operations. It 
is safe to say that the members of the two leading 
Cotton Exchanges find it necessary to control 
annually nearly a half million bales of cotton. 
Here is a specific demand that exists over and above 
the takings of spinners. While the Cotton Ex- 
change does not consume this quantity nor with- 
draw it from circulation, it does advertise the ar- 
ticle, thereby creating a wider market for the prod- 
uct than would exist if spinners alone were 
purchasers. 

But are these influences of sufficient importance 
to be of any material benefit to the producer.? 
Since the Cotton Exchange was not founded with 
any such philanthropic design, and since in its 
tradings it so often operates adversely to the in- 
terests of the producer, it niay readily be seen that 
the evils more than counterbalance the good. 

So we may say that on the whole this machinery 
is not helpful to the farmer. 

THE EVILS COME IN 

The evil-in-chief is the speculative spirit in all 
this trading in contracts. To legitimate trade, spec- 
ulation in cotton is a disadvantage — always a 
disadvantage. It uses all sorts of tricks and prac- 
tices to distort real conditions: it endeavors to "get 
the other fellow on the hip" and to hold him 
there until he is " good and dead " ; it inflates values 
part of the time, and part of the time it depresses 



244 COTTON 

them. True conditions, correct reports, are dis- 
torted; falsehoods and all sorts of misrepresenta- 
tion are indulged in, with no other object than to 
make profit by subverting the legitimate play of 
supply and demand. Daily fluctuations in prices 
are due to these speculative influences designed to 
depress or advance. While the wise speculator 
endeavors to anticipate and correctly interpret the 
movement of the fundamental law, it is true that 
other ignorant ones endeavor to work in oppo- 
sition to it; so these influences, playing at counter 
to each other, keep the ticker ever busy, recording 
the hourly fluctuations from season to season. 

ENTER THE IGNORANT SPECULATOR 

This indicates that there are two kinds of spec- 
ulations: one that consistently aims to buy and 
sell in the face of the correct play of the law of 
supply and demand; the second that throws this 
law to the wind, knowingly or through ignorance, 
and accepts the situation as a "gamble," a blind 
chance, — as uncertain as the fling of a penny. It 
is the actor in this second instance who sows, 
knowing not what he will reap, and who introduces 
the most potent evil in the Cotton Exchange. 

In almost every town and city of the country 
futures are now bought and sold. Speculative 
greed — getting something for nothing — draws the 
clerk, the journalist, the mechanic, the business 
man, the farmer — all trades and professions, and 
tempts all to try the blind chance. And this 
gambler finds the chance, sells without reason, 
buys knowing not what, nor with any understand- 
ings as to the workings and machinery of the 
transaction in which he engages. 




o s 

U t 

03 

z & 

o o 

r . M 

H I 

O M 

5 ^ 

O ^ 

2 i 

H '^ 

p— I o 

o I 



COTTON 245 

This individual may be green, an innocent rural 
"lamb," or a bold manipulator, securing prey on 
territory not even his ; on the very floor of the Ex- 
change itself he may go and operate in his unrea- 
sonable, unreasoning way. It is unnecessary to 
repeat the story. Chance may favor him with a 
step in line with the unchanging law, but once at 
cross-purposes with it, though ever the ''corner" 
is scented, he topples, is sacrificed, and lost. 

WHERE THE REMEDY LIES 

To eliminate the foolish manipulator (small or 
mighty though he be) or even the principle of spec- 
ulation itself, is impossible; nor can we abolish 
trading in contracts on the ground of illegality. 
They are with us, a part of our commercial meth- 
ods, and with us they will stay. 

What then can be done looking to regulation, 
that justice may be given the producer and the 
consumer: and protection even to those who will 
indulge therein ? The following reforms may be 
helpful : 

1. Complete publicity of past and probable pro- 
duction should be had that supply and demand 
may "be accurately known and correctly interpreted. 

2. Remedy the over-trading feature of the Cotton 
Exchange. 

3. Abolish the system of monthly deliveries. 

4. Increase the amounts required for margin. 

5. Grade and sell cotton according to the prac- 
tical requirements of consumption. 

Publicity: — In order to save the ignorant specu- 
lator from himself, as well as protect legitimate 
trade, only the most complete publicity will suffice. 
The producer can receive no value from his prod- 



246 COTTON 

uct, unless there is a spinner to use it; hence, both 
are factors in this trade and both are entitled to 
information as complete as statistics are able to 
give — first to the producer, that he may know what 
supply and demand may do to help him with his 
sale: second, to the spinner that he also may know 
these facts and so protect himself in his purchasing 
Then, too, publicity will assist the otherwise 
ignorant players with the ticker that they may keep 
away from ruin, and by having reliable information 
thrust before their very eyes, not fly into the face 
of things as they are. 

Over-trading: — Over-trading in the cotton mar- 
ket, as is the case with exaggeration of any other 
kind, means that the trade inevitably gets on 
false ground. It provides the opportunity for the 
"knowing ones," the strong, the mighty, not only 
to wrest cotton investments from the weak and 
immature, but it puts into the hands of the mighty, 
the powder necessary to rob the weak of all their 
possessions, and to bring ruin to them and their 
dependents. 

When this abuse is checked, the day of such ex- 
treme fluctuations as we have known heretofore 
will have passed and much of the evil of trading 
in contracts will have ended. 

Monthly Deliveries: — Here is one of the unrea- 
sonable features of the Cotton Exchange machinery. 
Only the law of supply and demand has a right to 
determine real value to him who wants a com- 
modity. Yet at three o'clock on the last day of 
any month as the contract now operates, cotton 
may sell one, two, and even three and four cents 
higher than a minute after that time of the same 
day, or at ten o'clock the day following. 

This is nothing but a trick, a fictitious condition 



COTTON 2471 

both unreasonable and illegal, and merits the same 
penalty that the usurer gets — or deserves. 

Marginal Amounts: — Trading in cotton futures 
is stimulated and abetted because of the small 
margin required to enter the ring. Of course, this 
admits an army of ignorant, unthinking people. 
It is a game of chance with them — a gambling 
game, no higher in ethics than shooting craps or 
playing poker, and the chances many times more 
against their ever coming out unburned. What 
chance is there for mere strength and awkward- 
ness in such an arena with mighty, well-trained 
gladiators (scientifically trained, if you please) to 
meet and combat ? Of course, this struggle is 
short; and the pity is in the home where the sav- 
ings of these weaker contestants are needed. 

Increase the margin — make it more diflScult to 
enter and to follow — and the evil will be clipped 
at the wings — less able then to do harm here ; less 
able to cause these violent fluctuations that have 
adversely affected both the cotton farmer offering 
his holdings and the cotton spinner seeking his 
takings. 

Grading: — Another evil is in the fact that in the 
Exchange sale any sort of cotton may be delivered. 
Suppose the farmer buys cattle and when the seller 
delivers them, th^y may be any sort or all sorts — 
suckling calves, weaned calves, scrubs, finished 
beeves, etc. It is with just such a policy that cotton 
contracts are traded in, since the deliverable cotton 
may be all the way from fair to good ordinary. 
Right here is where (leaving the morals of the 
question out of consideration), the greatest griev- 
ance lies, and where it affects the pocket-book of 
both producer and consumer. And then these 
know that neither one nor the other is responsible. 



248 COTTON 

although these two factors only are concerned with 
commodity — all others are aliens. Cotton should 
be graded therefore with a view to consumption. 
In selling cattle, calves and scrubs are eliminated 
from High market grades, and surely the low grades 
of cotton can be eliminated also. The contract 
would act with more justice to all were it graded 
in the contract from Fair to and including Low 
Middling — a reasonable change, and a fair one to 
all concerned. 

All in all, the Cotton Exchange, like business, 
is subject to gross misrepresentations. Much of 
the feeling against it is due to ignorance of its 
methods or to the prejudice that comes from having 
had one's fingers burned. That it contains much 
good there is no question. What its future will 
be only time will tell, but with proper reforms 
it may play a noteworthy part in the rich kingdom 
of cotton. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

STATISTICS : HOW THE WORLD WATCHES WHILE THE 
PLANT GROWS 

There is a reason why statistics of production 
and consumption of cotton should be made accu- 
rately, completely, and frequently. Trade has be- 
come so complex since the advent of the Cotton 
Exchange — because of the rapid developments of 
re-selling on close margins, taking advantage of 
fluctuations in prices and dealing in futures; and 
using unnatural influences to fix prices by manipu- 
lators — that every one interested has come to rec- 
ognize the need of some strong disinterested agency 
to make reports of actual facts so that all concerned 
may be better guided as how to buy or sell. 

The producer, the merchant, the speculator, and 
the consumer must ever be informed as to the 
movement of the law of supply and demand, that 
the market of neither the raw product nor the 
finished material, may be congested or overloaded. 
Let this happen, and not only that form of cotton 
immediately concerned, but all humanity, will suf- 
fer in consequence of the abnormal condition. 
The hope lies in publicity — complete and accurate. 
These reports must be made by disinterested par- 
ties: not by the speculator who reports a bearish 
condition of the market that prices may be de- 
pressed, trying to favor his own operations; nor 

(249) 



250 COTTON 

by his rival with his bulUsh reports given in the 
hope that prices may advance to his profit. 

It is to the Government we must look for esti- 
mates of such a character that they rnay be de- 
pended upon for accuracy and reliability. Besides, 
the Government is impartial and aims to protect 
both producer and consumer, since both contribute 
to its machinery, and for them it partially exists. 

WHY THE GOVERNMENT GATHERS STATISTICS 

To the Department of Agriculture is intrusted 
this work ; to no other Department of the Govern- 
ment could it be more safely and wisely left; by no 
other Department can the condition of the growing 
crop be so accurately and completely ascertained. 
The purpose of the Government's cotton reports 
is to ascertain the actual facts as to the acreage, 
growing condition, and the prospective yield of the 
crop. Its general aims may be enumerated as fol- 
lows: 

1. To give information to producers, consumers 
and dealers as to actual yields; also to report as 
to the actual conditions of promise. 

2. To enable market centers to better balance 
supply against demand in defining what prices are 
warranted by natural conditions. 

3. To insure whatever stability of prices a chang- 
ing state of natural conditions allows. 

4. To be so certainly authentic and comprehen- 
sive and definite for entire crop areas that interested 
parties cannot well credit nor warp the figures with 
their own estimates, and thus bring about unstable 
markets. 

5. To enable producers to know the facts as to 
the promise of prices for the crop, that false re- 



COTTON 251 

ports may not mislead them into early sales at 
prices wrongfully made too low. 

6. To create confidence, that sales and consign- 
ments by producers may be made more freely, 
that dealers may more safely conduct their busi- 
ness with lower handling charges, and that spin- 
ners may more freely purchase stocks to hold, 
thus adding certainty and stability to business, 
that they may work on a less speculative basis, and 
thus bring more equitable returns from labor 
expenditure to all interested persons. 

7. To make reports so frequently and to give 
facts so soon after changes in prospective condi- 
tions occur, or so soon after actual yields are 
gathered, that there may be the least possible ele- 
ment of uncertainty, of speculative conditions, to 
remove prices from their normal economic place. 

HOW COTTON STATISTICS ARE GATHERED 

The large body of people concerned with the 
gathering of cotton statistics may be grouped into 
the five following classes : 

1. The State Statistical Agent and corps of aids. 

2. Three Cotton Special Field Agents. 

3. The County Agent for the Department. 

4. The Township Agents for the Department. 

5. Individual reports of cotton farmers. 

The State Statistical Agent is a paid employee 
of the Department who reports to the Bureau of 
Statistics the information which he obtains from 
tabulations that are sent direct to him by his corps 
of aids in the cotton counties of his State. These 
aids are selected because of their qualifications as 
farmers of judicial mind and individual integrity. 
This part of the crop-reporting service is one of 



252 COTTON 

the best means of securing reliable information. 
It should be further extended. The State Agent 
should receive a salary commensurate with the re- 
sponsibilities of his position, and sufficient to en- 
able him to maintain a well-equipped office and 
look after his large body of aids. 

Then there are three special field agents who 
travel constantly through the cotton territory, each 
covering a group of States assigned him. These 
men are trained statisticians and selected because 
of their wide knowledge and broad information 
regarding the cotton crop. They travel systematic- 
ally over the districts in their charge, note carefully 
the acreage and conditions; keep in close touch 
with the best informed opinion as to the cotton crop. 
Their knowledge and information is therefore of 
the highest value in correcting inaccuracies: and 
it is given monthly or oftener to the Statistical 
Bureau by mail and telegraph. 

To supplement these, information is obtained 
from county and township correspondents who 
have been selected because of fitness and knowl- 
edge; from the cotton ginneries and from corre- 
spondents representing bankers, and country mer- 
chants. 

SCOPE OF COTTON STATISTICS 

Cotton schedules are sent to all these classes of 
reporters each month of the growing season. The 
May schedule is the first of the year and deals with 
the acreage and condition of cotton. Following 
this are the June, July, August and September 
schedules dealing with the condition of the crop. 
The August report also deals with the amount of 
old cotton on hand; in the November report is in- 



COTTON 253 

eluded average yield of cotton per acre, abandoned 
acreage, and the cost of picking. 

HOW COTTON REPORTS ARE HANDLED 

All reports dealing with cotton statistics are sent 
by telegraph (in cipher) or by mail, so as to reach 
Washington, where the Crop Reporting Board 
meets, by the first day of each month of the months 
in which such reports are made. 

The reports of the State Field Agents and State 
Statistical Agents are sent to the Secretary of Agri- 
culture in specially prepared envelopes, and deliv- 
ered to him by the postal authorities in sealed mail 
pouches. These as they arrive are placed in a 
safe located in the private office of the Secretary, 
to which no one else has access, until the day on 
which the report is issued. The combination of the 
safe moreover, is known only to the Secretary of 
Agriculture and the Assistant Secretary of Agri- 
culture. 

HOW THE REPORTS ARE PREPARED 

The reports previously sent in are now opened 
and final results made up by a Crop Reporting 
Board, composed of the Chief of the Bureau of 
Statistics as chairman and four individual members 
selected from the Statisticians and officers of the 
Department. For each month there is an incom- 
ing member, not on the sitting of the estimating 
committee immediately previous. On the report 
day, this Board with several computors meets in 
the office of the Statistician which is kept locked, 
no one being allowed to enter or to leave it. All 
telephones are disconnected. 

When all data has been placed before each mem- 



254 COTTON 

ber of the Board, each individual computes sep- 
arately his own estimate of cotton for each State. 
When this is done comparisons are made and dis- 
cussions are engaged in before the final figures 
are decided upon. Each and every township, 
county, and State is properly "weighted" so as to 
give the arithmetical value which the acreage in 
that area demands. On the completion of this 
work, the report is ready to be given out, and goes 
with lightning speed to almost every part of the 
world. 

HOW THE COTTON REPORT IS ISSUED 

Reports on cotton thus prepared by the Crop 
Reporting Board are issued on the 3d of each 
month during the growing season. In order that 
the information contained in these reports may 
be made simultaneously throughout the entire 
United States, and that one part of the country may 
not have any advantage over another, they are 
handed simultaneously at a given hour (as for ex- 
ample, at 12 o'clock noon or 4 p. m.) on report days, 
to all applicants, and are given to the Western 
Union Telegraph Company and the Postal Tele- 
graph Cable Company for transmission to the ex- 
changes and to the press. These companies have 
reserved their lines at a designated time, and by 
use of a" flash" forward immediately the figures of 
most interest. A mimeograph statement for com- 
parative purposes, containing such estimates of 
condition or actual production, together with the 
corresponding estimates of former years, is prepared 
and sent to a mailing list of exchanges, newspaper 
publications, and individuals. The same after- 
noon printed cards containing the essential facts 



COTTON 255 

concerning cotton and the most important crops 
of the report are mailed to 77,000 post offices 
throughout the United States for public display, 
thus placing the information within the farmer's 
immediate reach. 

MONTHLY CONDITION REPORT OF COTTON 

The cotton crop must be observed throughout 
its growing period if accurate conclusions are to be 
drawn in regard to its output. Even then only 
an approximate estimate can be made. Such an 
estimate is helpful to the producer in assisting him 
in disposing of his crop; it helps the spinner in 
making his purchases. Both depend, in some 
measure at least, upon facts not yet accomplished. 
Favorable conditions in June do not mean that an 
unfavorable season may not disturb growth and 
prospects in August or September. 

A farmer once planted for twenty bales. Rain 
came and brought grass and troubles, threatening 
the crop; June had come and scarcely ten bales 
were hoped for. But weather during July was 
favorable — much sunshine during the day and 
little rain at night; the crop flourished, the weed 
became strong, and vigorous — and thirty bales were 
now anticipated. But more rain came, fairly cover- 
ing the ground; unripe bolls began to shed, leaves 
turned in color, the big crop was no longer thought 
of — a yield of ten or twelve .bales would now be all 
that might be expected. But better days came in 
August — days more favorable to the crop — growth 
of weed checked itself to correct proportions, the 
old bolls enlarged, and the farmer brightened in 
hope and expectation that results might be better 
than "things looked at one time." September 



256 



COTTON 



with its picking season soon passed, and prospects 
for fifteen or twenty bales were now brighter : Octo- 
ber soon passed and November ended the gathering 
of the crop. Twenty-six bales had been secured. 

This illustration shows how fickle is the season 
and its crop. While in this case better returns fol- 
lowed than were anticipated, it is just as often true 
that contrary results are realized. Hence, with the 
cotton crop you can make no estimate by a hasty 
review or a glance from the window of the railroad 
car. You must watch the crop throughout its 
growing season, and all the while be prepared for 
any turn this capricious crop may take because of 
some disease or some change in weather. 

The table following shows the estimates from 
month to month for several years as reported by the 
United States Department of Agriculture : 



MONTHLY COTTON REPORT 

United States Department of Aghictjltube 











<4 




ni 


(U 




a 


m 


a 


<u 


;3 


o 


cs 










X 


^ 


a 
















H 


< 


H 


^ 


O 


69 


73 


87 


84 


88 


72 


75 


86 


86 


83 


71 


68 


80 


85 


83 


70 


72 


81 


86 


82 


69 


72 


79 


81 


80 


84 


84 


85 


82 


93 


89 90 


89 


89 


92 


91 


93 


92 


90 


95 


77 


88 


88 


87 


96 


69 


77 


76 


82 


85 



1905 

June 

July 

August . . . 

September 

October . . 

1904 

June 

July 

August . . . 
September 
October . . 



88 87 
87 83 



85 

77 
76 



79 
70 
70 

80 
85 
90 

84 

82176 



92 
94 

88 



73j73 

72^73 
69166' 
68 1 62 
68159 i 



85 86: 
89 90: 



77.2 

77 

74.9 

72.1 

71.2 

83 
88 
91.6 

84.1 
75.8 



COTTON 



257 



MONTHLY COTTON REPORT 

{Continued) 



1903 

June 

July 

August . , . 
September 
October . . 

1902 

June 

July 

August . . . 
September 
October . . 

1901 

June 

July 

August . . . 
September, 
October.. . 

1900 
June 

July 

August . . . 
September 
October . . 

1899 

June 

July 

August . . . 
September 
October 

1898 

June 

July 

August . . . 
September 
October.. . 



72 74 
7675 
76j78 
86|83 

77 74 



81 
84 
85 
83 
70 

100 
90 
84 
75 
68 



78 
74 
71 
63 



90 
93 

77 
79 

76 
83 
87 
73 
66 



76 
73 
76 
81 
69 

100 
94 
92 

75 
68 

81 
84 
69 
61 
51 

91 

78 
83 
65 
65 

80 
82 
86 
62 
53 

96 
93 
93 
89 
84 



83 
80 
82 
91 
71 

100 
98 
92 
82 
76 

78 
85 
70 
73 
60 

86 
76 
77 
64 
64 

85 
88 
84 
76 
66 

90 
92 
97 
95 
93 



83 
74 
78 
81 
74 

100 
95 
93 
73 
73 

83 
90 
71 
75 
61 

94 

74 
84 
68 
68 

90 
88 
86 
85 

74 

96 
87 
90 
94 
93 



76 
73 

75 
75 

72 

99 

89 
95 
68 
61 

85 
88 
75 
76 
61 

84 
96 

81 

72 
77 

84 
91 
93 
53 
46 

80 
89 
94 
98 
76 



74.1 
77.1 

79.7 
81.2 
65.1 

95.1 
.7 
81.9 
64 
58.3 

81.5 
81.1 
77.2 
71.4 
61.4 

82.5 

95.8 

76 

68.2 

67 

85.7 

87.8 

84 

68.5 

62.4 

89 

91.2 

91.2 

79.8 

75.4 



258 



COTTON 



ANNUAL ESTIMATE OF COTTON CROP 

It has been the custom of the Department of 
Agriculture annually on December 1st to estimate 
the yield in cotton for each State and the total for 
all the cotton-producing States. This estimate 
compared with the report of the Census Bureau 
(which is charged with the duty of publishing the 
exact amount produced after the crop has been 
entirely ginned) for the last seven years, shows that 
the estimates of the Department of Agriculture have 
been within an average of one and four-tenths per 
cent, of absolute accuracy, which, in view of the 
fact that "to err is human" is little short of mirac- 
ulous. 

This fact is shown in the table following: 

NUMBER OF POUNDS OF LINT COTTON 





Department of 




Per cent. 


Year 


Agriculture 




Over 


Under 


1899 


4,320,193,000 


4,457,097,000 




3. 1 


1900 


4,856,738,000 


4,846,471,000 


.2 




1901 


4,529,954,000 


4,550,950,000 




.5 


1902 


5,111,870,000 


5,091,641,000 


.4 




1903 


4,889,796,000 


4,706,591,000 


3. 9 




1904 


6,157,064,000 


6,426,698,000 




4. 2 


1905 


5,083,909,000 


5,389,155,149 




6. 



MORE FREQUENT REPORTS 

The objection to the reports of the Department 
now may be said to lie with their infrequency. So 
important is correct and accurate information to 
the producer and consumer, and so important too is 



COTTON 259 

the cotton crop to the whole world, that it seems 
advisable to have the reports issued more often, 
instead of only once each month as is now the 
custom. Were this the case, the fluctuations in 
prices upon the appearance of the Government 
report would not be so marked, and the market 
would remain more stable, and more truly re- 
sponsive to the law of supply and demand. 



GHAPTER XXIX. 

PRICES : THE PUZZLING PROBLEM OF COTTON VALUES 

There is an economic principle which applies to 
all products of the land and to all products of the 
shop: The final utility of the product shall determine 
its market value. When a commodity becomes 
necessary for any purpose, it will bring in the mar- 
ket whatever price is necessary to produce it once or 
to reproduce it again. 

If it costs ten cents to produce a pound of cotton 
and ten million bales are wanted, then if there is 
land enough and men enough who will be satisfied 
to produce it at that price, ten cents a pound will be 
the market price. But if twelve million bales are 
needed and wanted, you may or you may not have 
a different proposition: all available cotton land 
may be already in use; other workers may not care 
to engage in the work at the price offered; and if 
they do not turn to it, the increased quantity cannot 
be grown. What follows ? The economic princi- 
ple answers: If cotton is in greater demand than 
other things, then a higher price will be offered for 
it in order that laborers may be attracted to it ; that 
lands now given to other products be given to cot- 
ton; that owners of land on which ten-cent cotton 
would not pay, shall have the inducement of higher 
prices. So the additional two million bales are 
produced. On this basis an increase shall be 

(260) 




THE EBB AND FLOW OF COTTON PRICES. 

The drawing shows in vivi.i fashion the fluctuations in prices-highest and 
lowest— of spot cotton for each year since 1S26. 




» » » » i «. 

Mill I 

Mill/ 

I > •■ 






. RNbsbbi 
•"MUM! 



:j -a 






3'^ 



COTTON 261 

given, and the price we will say is now twelve cents. 
But how will this advance in price affect that re- 
ceived for the usual crop ? It will cause it to ad- 
vance also and meet the new scale in price. 

It may happen that there are men enough and 
equipment sufficient to produce not only the nor- 
mal quantity but enough to handle additional acres 
as well. When the call comes for more cotton it 
may not be met, since all lands that pay at the ten- 
cent rate are growing it already. What happens.? 
The intensity of the demand will control. If it 
is insisted upon, the grower will supply it through 
heavier applications of fertilizers and through 
increased acreage. But at what price shall he 
sell it.? He may sell it at the same price as he 
has heretofore been selling. But if that grown on 
good soil in previous years was produced and sold 
for ten cents per pound, which in every sense was a 
reasonable rate, then if he now sells this increased 
product at the old price, — a product that costs him 
more to produce since the yield is less and expense 
more — he will sell the increased product at less 
than cost, thereby losing in the enterprise. 

To meet this condition brought about by opening 
up new lands, the grower will have to take from 
his normal and usual crop, returns to make good 
the deficiency of the new. This the wise man will 
not do. On the other hand, this follows in practice : 
Since more cotton is wanted, and since other acres 
are not so profitable, in order to get the same profit 
for the additional land as that received on other 
lands before the enlarged demand came, every 
grower will expect more per pound. 

But the producing power of land does not govern 
price — only directs it; it is the commodity itself 
that fixes values, hence if twelve cents is paid for 



262 COTTON 

each pound produced on these less desirable lands, 
the commodity in its entirety will bring the same 
price, irrespective of the kind of land on which it 
was produced. 

It follows then that not the cost of the average 
crop, but the cost of growing that part of the crop 
produced at the greater cost or greater disadvantage 
will govern the market price of cotton. 

He who is so unfortunately situated as to grow 
his cotton at the greatest disadvantage gets no 
profit at all; while on the other hand profits go 
in proportion as cotton is grown with ease and 
economy. 

THE RANGE OF THE COST 

The statement is often made that cotton is grown 
now at a cost of from three to four cents per pound, 
and hence that there is a tremendous profit in the 
business of cotton farming — a profit of as much as 
two or even three hundred per cent. This being 
the case, we hear further, cotton sells at an un- 
reasonable price, and nets the producer a greater 
reward than economic conditions justify. 

That some cotton may be produced on some land 
and during some seasons at three or four cents per 
pound there is no doubt; but there is indeed a small 
acreage where these conditions obtain. In no way, 
we argue, is it justifiable to use these exceptional 
seasons as a basis for estimating the cost of produc- 
ing cotton or for measuring profits — any more than 
it is justifiable to say that since some banking 
houses in New York City make annual profits of 
from 100 to 200 per cent, that is the profit realized 
by all banks throughout the country. The facts are 



COTTON 



263 



that on the basis of present acreage and cost of 
production : 

3 cents cost per pound represents 1% of acreage. 



4 ' 






u .. .. gc^ 


5 ' 






" " " . 23% 


6 ' 






' " " 28% 


7 ' 




( 


' " " 16% 


8 ' 




( 


" " " 9% 


9 ' 






" " '* 7% 


10 * 






' - *' 6% 


11 ' 




< 


" '• " 3% 


12 ' 




( < 


' - « 1% 



This shows that even today when cotton sells 
for ten cents a pound one-tenth of the acreage does 
no more (possibly less) than meet the cost of pro- 
ducing it. Sixty per cent of the crop costs between 
5 and 7 cents to produce on the basis of mere cul- 
tivation. Thousands of acres of cotton are grown 
annually where the product pays only the rental 
and fertilizer bills, the tenant at the end of the sea- 
son receiving no compensation at all for his labor 
during the period of the growth of the crop. Were 
it not for his poultry, his pig, his potato patch, his 
few peas, and the extra work he does in the winter 
months, he and his family would starve or be 
thrown on the State. These are real facts, gath- 
ered at first hand from observation and experi- 
ence. Doubt them if you like ; but if you observe 
you will be convinced of their absolute truth. 

After awhile we shall abandon these unprofit- 
able acres ; we shall give them over to cowpeas and 
pasture, and use for cotton only those lands so 
adapted to the crop as to make it sure that they 
will net a reasonable profit. 



264 COTTON 

NORMAL FLUCTUATION OF PRICES 

Eliminating the waste of ignorance which plays 
a part in cotton production because of the presence 
of the illiterate tenant, when the price falls below 
the cost of production because of overproduction, 
poor producing lands are dropped from use; those 
engaged in cotton farming receive smaller returns 
and less cotton is produced until consumption in- 
creases so as to use the product as rapidly as pro- 
duced. Were one-fifth of the present acreage 
to be put to some other use, cotton would immediate- 
ly advance in price: the four-fifths quantity would 
yield in value a gross revenue perhaps equal to 
or greater than the five-fifths at the present time 
and at present prices, consumption remaining the 
same all the while. On the other hand, were con- 
sumption to decrease one-fifth and production re- 
main the same, the price would decline until either 
consumption should increase again or enough cot- 
ton lands be abandoned to balance supply and 
demand. 

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 

This adjustment between production and con- 
sumption, as we have said, is regulated by the in- 
evitable law of supply and demand, which at times 
may be influenced by attachments with other com- 
modities that may be or may not be substituted, 
thus adding further complications to the situation. 

So cotton growing and cotton spinning long have 
been working partners; although they have had 
their quarrels, they are fairly adjusted so that sup- 
ply and demand operate within rather narrow 
limits, conditions being in no wise open to serious 



COTTON 



265 



rupture. Acreage is gradually increasing, but so 
also is the number of spindles ; so also is the demand 
for the products of these acres and spindles. 

While during the past twenty-five years there 
has been no great change in the price of the raw 
product, it is true that the cost of farm labor has 
increased with no appreciable decrease in the gen- 
eral cost of production ; it is true also that manufac- 
tured goods have very greatly decreased in price, 
while here the cost of production has materially 
decreased because of increased skill in manufacture 
and the increasingly large number of labor-saving 
machines. 

PRICES OF COTTON 

That the selling price of cotton has not decreased 
is seen in the table below; but let it be remembered 
that few improved tools and implements have yet 
been found of service in cotton production so as 
to decrease the cost of growing. 



HIGH AND LOW PRICES IN NEW YORK 
FOR MIDDLING UPLAND COTTON 



Year 


Highest 
cents 


Lowest 
cents 


Year 


Highest 
cents 


Lowest 
cents 


1826 


14 


9 


1836 


20 


12 


1827 


12 


8 


1837 


17 


7 


1828 


13 


9 


1838 


12 


9 


1829 


11 


8 


1839 


16 


11 


1830 


13 


8 


1840 


10 


8 


1831 


11 


7 


1841 


11 


9 


1832 


12 


7 


1842 


9 


7 


1833 


17 


9 


1843 


8 


5 


1834 


16 


10 


1844 


9 


5 


1835 


20 


15 


1845 


8| 


5 



266 



COTTON 



HIGH AND LOW PRICES IN NEW YORK 
FOR MIDDLING UPLAND COTTON 

(Continued) 



Y*^np 


Highest 


Lowest 


Year 


Highest 


Lowest 


JLG3,L 


cents 


cents 




cents 


cents 


1846 


10 


6 


1876 


13| 


lOJ 


1847 


12 


7 


1877 


13^ 


lon- 


1848 


8 


5 


1878 


12-iV 


s^ 


1849 


11 


6 


1879 


13| 


9i 


1850 


14 


11 


1880 


13i 


io4f 


1851 


14 


8 


1881 


13 


10^ 


1852 


10 


8 


1882 


13^^ 


lOi 


1853 


11 


10 


1883 


IH 


10 


1854 


10 


8 


1884 


llif 


9i 


1855 


12 


8 


1885 


iH 


H 


1856 


13 


9 


1886 


H 


H 


1857 


15J 


9 


1887 


iH 


H 


1858 


13^^ 


8J 


1888 


llf 


H 


1859 


12f 


lOf 


1889 


iH 


9i 


1860 


llf 


10 


1890 


12f 


H 


1861 


38 


Hi 


1891 


H 


n 


1862 


m 


20 


1892 


10 


6J 


1863 


93 


51 


1893 


^ 16 


n 


1864 


190 


72 


1894 


8t6" 


*^ 16 


1865 


120 


35 


1895 


n 


«^ 16 


1866 


52 


32 


1896 


H 


U 


1867 


36 


15^ 


1897 


8i 


H 


1868 


33 


16 


1898 


6^ 


^ 16 


1869 


35 


25 


1899 


n 


' 5J 


1870 


25| 


15 


1900 


m 


H 


1871 


21i 


14| 


1901 


12| 


6f 


1872 


m 


18| 


1902 


9f 


7i 


1873 


21f 


13f 


1903 


13f 


8* 


1874 


18J 


14f 


1904 


17f 


6i 


1875 


m 


13^ 


1905 


12f 


H 



COTTON 267 

It is seen here that the variation from lowest to 
highest prices has remained quite the same since 
1826, with the exception of the period of War and 
Reconstruction. Of course this is a significant 
fact; for while all other great products of the land 
have decreased in selling price, cotton remains 
the same (within normal fluctuations) during the 
entire period. This fact tells more forcibly than 
all others of the kingship of this imperial crop and 
the hold it has on all the world — a kingdom that 
includes all land and sea in its borders, that num- 
bers all people as subjects, and is richer than any 
rival crop. 

FLUCTUATION IN PRICES 

Normally and theoretically, the law of supply 
and demand regulates the yearly, monthly, ana 
daily price of cotton. With the advent of the Cot- 
ton Exchange this has to a certain extent been 
modified: its machinery has given us a more deli- 
cate movement in price fluctuations. It is the 
constant anticipation almost every minute — of the 
play of this law on the Exchange that keeps the 
"ticker" busy in suggesting movements and es- 
tablishing prices for the staple. At times some 
force, with little or with much power, may work 
counter to this law with such intensity and 
strength as to force the price up or down, but 
only for the time being, the pendulum of prices 
shoving back, showing by its act its determination 
that the law shall not long remain disturbed. It 
is this feature of the cotton market that works 
to the disadvantage of both farmer and spinner, 
creating unstable situations, depressing prices for 
the farmer, advancing them for the manufacturer, 



268 COTTON 

and giving the profit to the intermediary alien — the 
cotton manipulator. 

THE COTTON CONTRACT IS TO BE BLAMED 

It is not our purpose here to discuss the ethical 
phase of the cotton contract; rather simply to ob- 
serve its practical workings. The small margin 
required for operations on the floor of the Exchange 
puts into the hands of the speculator an unreason- 
ble amount of wealth altogether out of proportion 
to his commitment. Said one of those in the game : 
"You get a better run for your money than in poker, 
in any game of chance, in any gamble." 

To particularize, here is an example : It is pos- 
sible for a man with but $100 margin to buy or sell 
in the oflSce of a broker one hundred bales of cotton 
for some future delivery. At the price of ten cents 
per pound his tradings equal $5,000 — and his cap- 
ital $100. From its very nature this is speculation 
of the rankest kind. Under this system it has been 
shown that " a member of the New York Exchange 
made contracts for the purchase of 300,000 bales 
of cotton, worth at current prices then about $24, 
000,000. This enormous commitment was made 
without the deposit of any cash guarantee or re- 
sponsibility, and when default in the contracts was 
announced it was liquidated at a loss of approxi- 
mately $3,000,000 to the parties who sold the 
cotton." 

Do you doubt that so long as such a system pre- 
vails, extreme and unreasonable fluctuations in the 
market will occur, and to the great disadvantage 
of both producer and consumer.? Such fluctua- 
tions occur after the cotton has left the hands of the 



COTTON 269 

producer; he profits not by the increase in price, 
nor does the consumer who must pay it. 

WILL THE SELLING PRICE OF COTTON DECREASE ? 

Only the law of supply and demand will estab- 
lish in the long run the selling price of cotton. This 
law is no respecter of persons or of occupations. 
Get production ahead and out of reach of demand 
and prices will inevitably sink; get it below demand 
and prices will advance just so far as the commercial 
safety valve will permit. A supply that is greater 
than can be immediately consumed will depress 
the price, regardless of the cost of production. 
There is no respite ; the law in the end will enforce 
its own decrees. 

The question now arises, "If supply and demand 
are properly regulated and adjusted, will the nor- 
mal price of cotton decrease .^" 

We think not, for the reason already discussed 
in our consideration of those economic principles 
that govern the cost of the raw product. It is true 
that improved tools and implements will come; 
fertilizers will be used more judiciously, and with 
more economy ; improved methods will be adopted ; 
wastefulness and carelessness will be eliminated 
more and more ; and the cotton picker will probably 
come to gather the cotton more cheaply — all will 
contribute to the lessening of the expense now 
prominent in cotton production. But these savings 
will not be deducted from the selling end — they 
will go to the producer. And why ? 

1. The laborer or tenant, negro or white, is more 
poorly fed, lives in a shabbier home, has fewer 
comforts and luxuries, receives a smaller wage, 
than the laborer or worker in almost any other 



270 COTTON 

form of industry in this country. Hence, as profits 
are increased because of savings in production, the 
laborer and tenant will receive better compensation. 
2. The cotton planter will receive his proportion 
as a legitimate reward for his labor and capital. 
It is true that many cotton farmers are making 
money ; they are improving their lands, their houses, 
their stock and their equipment ; they are building 
better churches and educating their children. As 
these increase, they call for better incomes to sup- 
port them ; so the saving in cost will go to the plant- 
er for greater comforts for himself and his family 
and for reasonable luxuries as well. 

TEN CENT COTTON IS NOT UNREASONABLE 

Most arguments one hears about the price of cot- 
ton are in the main to the effect that cotton sells 
for more than it is worth. 

There are many stages of profit from lint on the 
farm to cloth in the retail store. Nowhere, how- 
ever, is profit discussed except in reference to lint 
on the farm. Here are the facts in the case: A 
one-horse farm of twenty acres produces 4,000 
pounds of cotton which sells at ten cents. This 
gives the farmer a gross income of $400. Looking 
at this from the most optimistic viewpoint, that 
farmer did not clear on this twenty acres more than 
$80, and out of this must come interest, mainte- 
nance and accumulative gain. The manufacturer 
takes that cotton and from the 4,000 pounds he 
manufactures 16,000 yards of calico, which sells 
for $800 gross. Take it that there is but a small 
fraction of profit on the yard, when considered in 
connection with the great quantities handled, his 
profit is no small amount. From the manufacturer 



COTTON 271 

the goods go to the jobber, and at last to the counter 
in the dry goods store. What are profits here ? 
Sixteen thousand yards at 5 cents per yard cost 
$800 ; that number of yards sold at 7^ cents brings 
gross $1200 — a profit as great to the retail merchant 
as the price the farmer receives for his entire crop. 

THE CONTROL OF PRODUCTION 

Is it right for the producer to control the output 
of his commodity ? Why not ? So long as supply 
is more than demand, is it wrong in principle to 
waste capital, and energy and life in producing it ? 
More than this, 5,000,000 people are directly in- 
terested in the production of cotton crops. When 
you flood the market with raw material, and send it 
forth in larger quantities than spindles can use, 
you disturb the stability of trade and menace the 
peace and happiness of these five million souls. 
Is there no injury here ? Greater evils, moreover, 
sweep over the land — even in other directions — if 
more cotton is produced than can be used by a 
consuming world. It is good business, good prac- 
tice, good morals, to move supply and demand 
along together, as they now move, and this can 
continue only by controlling the supply, for the 
present, increasing it as demand calls for more. 

So long as the manufacturer, the broker, the 
merchant live in costly houses ; so long as the spin- 
ner, the weaver, the clerks enjoy comforts in dress 
and live easily, so long should no one complain 
that the cotton farmer and his tenant likewise have 
similar comforts and luxuries. 



SECTION IV. 
MANUFACTURES AND BY-PRODUCTS 



CHAPTER XXX. 



COTTON SEED : ONCE AN OUTCAST NOW A PRINCE 

When cotton Is gathered it consists of both fiber 
and seed. These two products grow together, the 
fiber out of the seed, and remain together until the 
gin separates them. Up to this point the combined 
products are known as seed cotton. From the gin, 
lint or fiber (or cotton as it is now called) , leaves in 
the bale to be returned to the farm, or goes direct to 
the market for immediate sale. 

The seed, however, are still the property of the 
farmer, and may be carried back to the farm, 
where they are valuable for feed or fertilizer, or they 
may be sold to the oil mill. As a matter of fact, 
about one-third of the cotton seed supply is now 
sold to the oil mill, to be converted into oil, meal 
and hulls, and the remaining two-thirds are car- 
ried back to the farm for feed, fertilizer, and a 
smaller quantity for seed for the next year's crop. 

At one time cotton seed were altogether wasted : 
manurial value was not considered ; and as a feed they 
had never a thought. In many places in the old 
days cotton gins were purposely built on streams in 
order that the water might carry away the great ac- 
cumulations of supposedly worthless seed; and in 

(275) 



276 COTTON 

some States laws were passed requiring ginners to 
clear away the seed, the rotting piles otherwise be- 
coming offensive to the neighbors ! 

Now, however, the value of this part of the crop 
has assumed enormous proportions, and offers a 
revenue to the Southern farmer not inconsiderable, 
even when compared with the value of cotton lint 
itself. 

Seed cotton contains about one-third lint and 
two-thirds seed. The crop of 1905 of 10,697,013 
bales of cotton would mean about 5,850,000 tons 
of seed. This valued at $16.00 per ton, a reasonable 
estimate, gives us a commercial value of $88,600,000 
in the raw state, while this value of course is greatly 
increased in the finished product. 

And to think that this product as we have just 
said once rotted at the gin or was washed away in 
creeks and rivers — forever lost to the soil and to the 
world ! 

WHAT IS IN A TON OF SEED COTTON 

Only an estimate can be made, since the pro- 
portion of lint to seed varies with different varieties 
and different soils ; but taking the general rule that 
*' cotton thirds itself," in one ton of seed cotton 
there should be 665 pounds of hnt and 1335 pounds 
of seed. This seed would yield when prepared 
and manufactured about 489 pounds of meal, 18 
pounds of linters, 187 pounds of oil, 561 pounds of 
hulls, and 80 pounds of waste material such as 
water, dust, and sand. 

With the exception of the waste, all of these are 
commercial commodities, and to-day find markets 
wherever fertilizers are used, live stock are grown, 
or civilized people are known. 




COTTON SEED HULLER. 

The hulls are used for cattle food, the oil extracted from the meats, and the 
meal kept for feeding and fertilizing. "If cotton made no lint, the seed alone would 
justify its culture." 



COTTON 277 

WHAT A TON OF SEED CONTAINS 

Clearly to understand the value of cotton seed, 
we must consider the products made from them and 
the forms available for market use. These factors 
are obtained from the actual results of the oil mill. 
When treated for manufacture we get the following: 

COTTON SEED 2000 POUNDS 

(A.) Linters — 27 pounds. 
(B.) Hulls— 841 pounds. 

(1.) Bran — Feeding Stuffs. 
■ (2.) Fiber — High Grade Paper. 
(3.) Fuel — Ashes and Fertilizer. 
(C.) Meats— 1012 pounds, 
a.) Cake— 732 pounds, 
(a.) Meal. 

(1.) Feeding Stuff. 
(2.) Fertilizer. 
(2.) Crude oil— 280 pounds, 
(a.) Soap Stock — soaps. 
(6.) Summer Yellow. 
(1.) Winter Yellow. 
(2.) Salad oil. 
(3.) Cotton Lard. 
(4.) Cottolene. 
(5.) Miners' oil. 
(6.) Soap. 

THE OIL MILL AND THE FARMER 

It has been shown that the farmer may either 
sell his seed to the oil mill or use them at home. 
Certainly they can be profitably used on the farm. 
Cotton seed are not like such perishable products as 
fruits or vegetables, — which must be sold quickly 



278 COTTON 

leaving the farmer to take such prices as are offered 
without regard to the cost of production. In this 
case you can use your seed, if you cannot sell them 
on the market for what they are worth. 

The fertilizing value is one measure of value and 
a governing principle in estimating the worth per 
bushel or the basis of exchange for meal. 

Estimating values of cotton seed and cotton- 
seed meal on the same basis as the cost of the in- 
gredients in regular fertilizing materials used on 
the cotton farm, we get the following: 

One Ton Cotton Seed 

Ammonia, 75 lbs. @ 13. 5c $10.13 

Phosphoric Acid, 26 lbs. @ 5 cts 1.30 

Potash, 24 lbs. @ 5.5c 1.32 

Fertilizing Value $12.75 

This represents the actual worth of the potential 
plant food in one ton of seed. Allowing the same 
values for cost of the several ingredients in cotton- 
seed meal we get the following : 

One Ton Cottonseed Meal 

Ammonia, 150 lbs. @ 13.5c $20.25 

Phosphoric Acid, 56 lbs. @ 5c 2.80 

Potash, 35 lbs. @ 5.5c 1.95 

FertiHzing Value $25.00 

Putting this in form of a proportion we have 

$25.00 : $12.75 : : x : 1. 

Or, 

Value of meal : value seed : : 1.9 : 1. 

In other words, cottonseed meal when sold for 



COTTON 279 

$25.00 a ton contains just about twice as much 
fertilizing value as cotton seed. On a basis of 66 
bushels of seed in a ton the value per bushel of seed 
is twenty cents. This price makes an even ex- 
change, without allowing the farmer anything for 
hauling seed to the oil mill. When you sell seed for 
less than 20 cents per bushel, you actually give 
more than you get in return. It follows that you 
should always receive as much as twenty-five cents 
per bushel when meal sells for $25.00 per ton. 

ON BASIS OF EXCHANGE 

But as a matter of fact you should never dispose 
of your seed except on a basis of exchange. Your 
soil cannot stand the continual drain upon it, if the 
seed are sold and nothing is put back to restore the 
fertility they draw from the land. All seed taken 
from the soil by the growing crop, should be re- 
turned to it either in form of seed, meal, or cattle 
manure. Since the oil in the seed has no fertilizing 
value, and is of no use to the farmer, he can ex- 
change this oil for meal, the product of more 
especial value to him. But on what basis of ex- 
change ? As we have mentioned before, for fer- 
tilizing purposes meal is slightly less than twice 
as valuable as seed ; but you cannot haul your seed 
to the oil mill and then haul the meal to your home 
without some compensation. This compensation 
should therefore be in the form of extra meal. Just 
what that amount shall be will depend on the dis- 
tance, condition of roads, and the composition of 
meal. In a general way it may be said that you 
should receive at least 1100 pounds of meal in ex- 
change for a ton of seed, and an additional 
amount to compensate you for your trouble, 



280 COTTON 

labor, and expense, incidental to making the 
exchange. 

COTTON HULLS 

From each ton of seed about 800 or 900 pounds 
of hulls are obtained. These hulls are used for 
fuel and for feed for live stock. The increased 
demand for the latter purpose practically calls now 
for the whole output, although it has been but a 
few years since practically all of the hulls were 
burned. Everywhere through the South cotton 
hulls are fed to cattle and mules, and in many 
places they form the major part of the roughage 
factor of the daily ration. Hulls are palatable, and 
in one way are nutritious, since they furnish 
nutrients that go to make heat and fat. Com- 
paratively speaking, their feeding value may be 
ranked as being about half that of ordinary grass 
hay. In composition they are almost as well- 
balanced as this hay, although they contain but a 
small quantity of digestible protein — the muscle 
maker. The entire oil mill output of this product 
readily finds a sale at from $3.00 to $6.00 per ton. 

COTTON SEED MEAL 

In every ton of seed there are about 732 pounds 
of meal, used exclusively for fertilizing and feeding 
purposes. Cottonseed meal is the most concen- 
trated of our vegetable feeding stuffs. It is ex- 
tremely rich in protein, a nutrient of especial im- 
portance for feeding all classes of farm animals. 

As a feed for beef and dairy cattle, cottonseed 
meal is especially popular. Considering the 
digestible nutrients it contains, it is the cheapest 



COTTON 281 

feeding stuff on the market today. Sooner or later 
this fact will be appreciated and as a consequence 
its commercial value will advance because of the 
increasing demand for it as a cattle food. This 
will also mean a saving to the South, for if the 
manure is properly cared for, there is little loss of 
fertilizing value from the original raw material. 

A PRACTICAL QUESTION IN CONCLUSION 

Used as a fertilizer we get but one profit from 
cottonseed meal. ■] 

Used as a feed and the manure saved, we get two 
profits. 

Which shall we choose ? 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

COTTON OIL : THE KING FEEDS AS WELL AS CLOTHES 
HIS SUBJECTS 

The cotton oil mill does not take simply the seed 
and grind them, putting them in better form for 
fertilizing and feeding purposes, but it removes 
from the seed the property that for these purposes 
is more objectionable than serviceable. For oil 
in the seed, for feeding to live stock, is unfavorable 
to digestion, especially where any considerable 
quantity is used ; in no sense is it of use to the soil, 
nor does it serve as a source of food or show itself 
of any use to the plant. Consequently it is of 
advantage to the farmer to have the oil extracted 
from his seed — the other ingredients being returned 
to him — simply as a means of preparing his product 
for use and leaving out of consideration the thought 
that he is reimbursed for his time and labor. 

THE RISE OF THE OIL MILL 

The oil mill at first came slowly into favor. A 
good many decades ago attempts were made to 
establish mills; for vegetable oils have long been 
in demand; and then, too, there was promise of 
profits in the business. While at first a few mills 
were established by individuals or independent 
corporations, the cotton oil business was developed 
into large proportions by a single large company. 
Naturally, however, the success of this company 

(282) 



COTTON 283 

brought rival companies into the field, and to-day 
wherever cotton is grown there are mills of various 
sizes converting raw seed into crude oil, meal and 
hulls. 



THE PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING 

Seed are gathered wherever obtainable and then 
delivered at the oil mill. Arriving here they are 
shoveled into a basket elevator which empties into 
a conveyor in the top of the building, and from 
thence they are distributed wherever storage room 
is available. Seed are now screened so as to get 
rid of bolls and other impurities, sand, dust, etc. 

This process of cleaning is the first step in the 
production of oil. Now seed go to the linters, 
where the short fibres are removed; and from here 
they go to the huller — a contrivance fitted with 
sets of knives that cut the seed into many small 
pieces. The heavier part of the seed, the meat, 
drops out and goes in one direction, while the hulls 
are carried in another. This operation is further 
perfected by having all of the droppings pass 
through sieves or screens which allow the meats to 
go through, but retain the greater part of the hulls. 
The hulls are next sent to places where they may 
be stored away, or carried to the press for baling. 
The meat now passes through a series of rollers 
intended to crush the particles and cells. From 
here it goes to heaters and kettles, and is cooked, 
the time of this cooking varying from 15 to 40 
minutes according to the judgment of the cook, and 
the condition of the seed. 

When this operation has been completed the 
meats are placed in a hydraulic press where the oil 



284 COTTON 

is pressed out, and the other ingredients moulded 
into cakes. 

The operation now required to complete the 
work consists of preparing the crude oil for the 
refinery and the cake for commerce. For con- 
sumption in our country nearly the whole of the 
cake is ground, putting it into a better form both 
for feeding and fertilizing purposes. 

THE SIZE OF MILL 

The cost of transportation and seed storage is 
one disadvantage in the process of manufacturing 
oil and meal. But this diflSculty is now overcome 
by the multiplication of small oil mills, — local 
enterprises springing up all over the Cotton Belt 
and each doing the work of its own community. 
And (what is true of few other lines of manufac- 
turing) the small oil mill does the work about as 
efficiently and economically as the large one. 

The small mill in fact has a peculiar advantage 
in that it has the interested support of the farmers 
of the neighborhood. It should be as much a part 
of the community, and should be operated in the 
service of the farmers just as much as is the co- 
operative creamery or the local flour mill in our 
Western States. The community mill will get its 
seed almost entirely from the neighborhood, and 
meal and hulls will, or should be, entirely used by 
the farmers of the community; consequently there 
is no freight to pay on seed or on their products. 

The item of storage is of considerable conse- 
quence, since a chain of delivery can be arranged 
that will keep the mill at work, and not require 
large quantities of seed to be kept on hand at any 
time. 



COTTON 285 

The small mill consumes all the way from two to 
five thousand tons of seed each season and may use 
as much as 25 to 50 tons each day. At the promi- 
nent railroad centers are mills of larger capacity — 
using from 150 to 200 tons of seed daily, or from 
twenty to fifty thousand tons each season. These 
make large profits since seed can be shipped from 
any distance and the product delivered without 
great expense to the mill. 

As a commercial enterprise, this is all very well, 
but the seed is the product of the farm, and should 
be consumed on the farm ; there is no other system 
that is not actual land-robbing. Consequently, 
from its nature the oil mill is still a local factor, a 
community factor, and a farm factor, and is just as 
important in the disposition of this part of the 
cotton crop as is the shredding machine or the 
threshing machine for the diposition of the corn 
or wheat crop, the only difference being that 
the mill is stationary and we carry the seed to it, 
while shredding and threshing machines go 
through the community and work on each in- 
dividual farm. 

With this idea accepted, it clearly follows that 
the cotton oil mill is indispensably connected with 
the community, and sooner or later the local co- 
operative enterprise must become the rule wher- 
ever cotton is grown. 

CRUDE OIL 

The operations of the oil mill have to do with the 
production of cake and hulls on one hand, and with 
the production of oil on the other. We may say 
that the mill itself came as a means of securing oil 
from the seed, and that meal and hulls are a by- 



286 COTTON 

product of this manufacture rather than primary 
objects. But so valuable have these two commod- 
ities become that their importance is now even 
greater than that of the oil itself. 

Oii as it leaves the press is known as crude oil, 
and has not a great many uses until it passes through 
the refinery for the completion of the manufac- 
turing process. While we can have a number of 
oil mills and while these may be small in size, the 
refining mill is so complicated as to be very expen- 
sive, difficult of operation, with running expenses 
further heightened because costly labor must be 
used. But we do not need so many refineries. 
The great bulk of the raw seed necessitates a large 
number of oil mills, not only because of money 
saved in freight, but because of the fact that with 
many local mills the farmers can readily dispose of 
their seed or secure meal in exchange for them. 

Oil, on the other hand, is a very concentrated 
product. From a ton of seed something like forty 
gallons of oil are obtained. It readily follows that 
the oil contained in a great number of tons of cotton 
seed can be transported in the same bulk space as is 
required for one ton of raw seed. 

So from all directions in the State crude oil may 
go to some one or more central points to be refined, 
and from these points distributed for manufacture 
into commercial products. 

In the process of getting oil in its crude form two 
products result : crude oil proper, and the settlings 
or "foots" as they are called. The first named 
product is drawn off and goes to the refining tank, 
from whence it is barreled for shipment. The 
settlings usually go back to heater tanks and are 
either pressed again or barreled and shipped as 
soap stock. 



COTTON 287 

OIL IN THE REFININC^ TANK 

Crude oil when taken from the settHng tanks 
may be either shipped direct to refineries, or if, as 
is often the case, a refinery is located in connection 
with the oil mill, it may be refined at once. 

In the refining process oil is heated gently, 
stirred constantly, and treated freely with air which 
enters through a perforated pipe at bottom. Im- 
purities are still present in the crude oil, and these 
are partially gotten rid of through the free use of 
caustic soda or potash; this coagulates them, 
causing them to collect and fall to the bottom of 
the tank. The next step is to draw off the oil and 
make the final preparation for its shipment. Be- 
fore it can go, however, it must be washed with 
water in order that the potash may be dissolved 
and removed. Since oil is lighter than water, 
separation gradually takes place in the mixture and 
the oil slowly rises to the top where it is carefully 
drawn off, at last to be filtered and put into barrels. 

WHAT IS MADE FROM THE OIL 

Refined oil is known as "summer yellow" and of 
course, is of a higher commercial value than the 
crude oil. Prime summer yellow is known as 
butter oil, and is largely used in the manufacture of 
oleomargarine, butterine and even as an adulterant 
for butter itseK. 

The highest grade of summer yellow is often 
subjected to cold pressure, which gives a product 
known as salad oil for cooking, dressing, and other 
household products. Then, too, large quantities 
of summer yellow have for a long time found their 
way into Italy where it is treated, to be sent later to 



288 COTTON 

all the world as ^ive oil. The greater part of 
our so-called olive oil now used in this country 
bears absolutely no relation to the olive tree, but 
is simply high grade summer yellow especially 
treated, and labeled as genuine olive oil. 

Summer yellow is also treated with bleaching 
powder, which removes the yellow color, and it is 
then used in the manufacture of compound lard 
and like materials. So popular has it become in 
this form, that it is now manufactured under its 
own name or as cottolene. 

Winter white oil is the same product but cold 
pressed. It is used in many ways from the manu- 
facture of medicinal compounds to oil for the 
miner's lamp. 

In numerous other ways does this refined cotton 
oil product supply the wants of man; and it seems 
likely that we have only just begun to appreciate 
its value and that in future we shall have use for 
greater quantities, much of the product to be used 
in directions not yet even dreamed of. 

ITS USE IN ADULTERATING INEXCUSABLE 

Cottonseed oil has its own work to do, its own 
place to fill. Its value is too great, too important, 
too manifest, for us to wish to see it fraudulently 
used. There is no line of argument to justify the 
sending of cotton oil or any of its manufactured 
products into the world under false names save to 
ask praise and reward intended for something 
else — losing withal the renown and the reward that 
its own merits justify. 

This adulterating practice has been carried 
entirely too far. Cottonseed oil may make as good 
salad dressing as olive oil, but it should be sold 



COTTON 289 

under its own name and not as olive oil ; it may be 
made into good "butter" but since the cow has a 
copyright on that name, no other product has 
either a commercial or moral right to use it ; it may 
be as good as hog lard, but it has no right to the 
name of either hog or lard. 

So this masquerading under names of old estab- 
lished products has brought cotton oil into more 
disrepute than all its deficiencies have ever done ; 
or to put it more vividly, cotton oil, with its good 
qualities masquerading under false names, its 
less useful forms appearing imder its own name, 
has thereby surrendered to other products much of 
the praise its merits deserve and has kept for 
itself all the blame of its shortcomings. 

Cotton oil has merits enough of its own to stand 
on its own bottom and to fight its own battles. As 
soon as those responsible for its evil ways realize 
this, the better it will be for the commodity. 

THE SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY 

Estimating the 1905 cotton crop at 10,697,013 
bales of lint the production of seed would be nearly 
or quite five million three hundred and fifty thous- 
and tons. On the supposition (and this is the 
evidence of the past) that two-thirds of these will 
go back to the farm, the other third used at the oil 
mill, we have nearly one million seven hundred and 
eighty-five thousand tons for the mills. On the 
basis of forty gallons of oil in each ton we will 
have the enormous production of more than 
seventy-one million gallons of oil from our 1905 
cotton crop. This, when sold in crude form at 
twenty cents per gallon brings to the mills of the 
South fourteen million two hundred and eighty 
thousand dollars for oil alone. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

MEAL AND HULLS: KING COTTON ALSO FEEDS 
OUR FLOCKS AND HERDS 

The correct solution of the cotton seed question 
is the use of the cotton oil mill, whether privately 
installed or by co-operative endeavor, for every 
community. To this mill all seed should be 
brought except what is saved for the next year's 
crop, that the oil — otherwise useless and wasted — 
may be extracted and put on the market as a com- 
mercial product; the by-products — meal and 
seed — should then be returned to the farms from 
which they were taken. On each farm then there 
will be the equivalent of the seed, but now in the 
form of meal and hulls, to take the place of the 
fertility withdrawn from the soil by the cotton 
crop. 

The meal and hulls should not be returned to 
the soil in their organized and original condition, 
however, but first fed to live stock, so as to secure 
the finished product-making begun with the fac- 
tory, further extended to the oil mill, and now 
completed on the factory-farm. For the farm is 
a factory : and factory-farming should be your plan 
of operating. 

HOW THE PLANT WORKS 

The cotton plant, you know, feeds from soil and 

(290) 



COTTON 291 

air. It lives on disorganized materials. While it 
enjoys a ration in which cottonseed meal forms a 
part, yet it does not use this material before nature 
has rotted or decomposed its component parts. 
The same amount of effort that nature uses in doing 
this work, live stock may give, and to their profit. 
In other words, what is food for the plant is not 
food for the animal; what is food for the animal 
is not food for the plant. In other words, just as 
the oil mill takes the oil from the seed, and yet 
turns back to the farmer all the elements of the 
seed that he can utilize, so the animal takes 
from the seed certain properties useful to it, and 
yet returns to the soil practically all the matter 
the soil could utilize for its enrichment. Meal is 
food for the animal but not food for the plant, 
until nature does to it precisely what the animal 
does to it. This is to decompose it. The animal 
is benefited because it grows and becomes fat in 
breaking up the organized forms of meal and fat. 
When the animal gets through with its work, it 
returns the fertilizing elements to the soil in the 
form of liquid and solid excrement. 

THE FACTORY FARM 

The cattle industry should be a part of cotton 
farming; not simply to raise feeding stuffs on the 
farm, but to change these from the raw state into 
finished forms. That is what any factory does: 
the cotton factory, for example, takes raw cotton 
and makes it into finished products. On the factory- 
farm the cotton farmer will take his meal, hulls, 
grasses, corn stover and hays, and manufacture 
them into such finished products as milk, butter, 
cheese and beef. For we lose one of the import- 



292 COTTON 

ant values of our meal when it is used simply as 
a fertilizing stuff: we lose the tissue form that 
plants in their growing made. 

Now, we use our meal largely as a fertilizing 
material. We estimate that value at $25.00 per 
ton. But the dairy farmer and the beef farmer 
find cottonseed meal an invaluable food at that 
price. Hence it must have both a feeding and a 
fertilizing value. 

Let us see : does butter or milk or cheese or beef 
use the fertilizing material of the meal.? Surely 
not, for in a whole ton of butter, but 48 cents of 
fertility is found. In a ton of milk but $2.80 
of fertility is found. Does it go in the dairy stock ? 
Of course not, else these dairy animals today 
would be as large as houses or barns. The 
material they used found its way back again 
to the soil. First it went into the feed lot, and the 
barn-yard, or wherever excrement dropped. But 
if not wasted it is in the land. Experiments show 
that after allowing for various quantities used by 
the animal products, such as butter, milk, beef and 
the like, and legitimate wastes that naturally fol- 
low the management of cattle, fully three-fourths 
of the original fertility may be saved and returned 
to the soil. 

THE DOUBLE VALUE OF MEAL AND HULLS 

We therefore have two values: one for feeding, 
and one for fertilizing. This may be expressed 
as follows: 

Value as a feeding stuff $25 . 00 

Value as a fertilizer 18.75 

Total value $43.75 



COTTON 293 

When cottonseed meal is used simply as a fertil- 
izer, therefore, there is a loss of $18.75 on every 
ton thus utilized — $18.75 a ton actually thrown 
away by the cotton farmer who is not thrifty 
enough to raise stock and to get all the profits from 
his seed. There is no proposition less open to 
argument than that on every farm on which meal 
is used as a fertilizer, we should first feed that meal 
to cattle so as to secure the double value. 

And then also bear in mind that our cotton lands 
need animal manures, more than fertilizers, for 
whenever and wherever used, stable manures show 
a greater efiiciency than their actual nitrogen, 
phosphorus, and potassium content would indicate. 
This is because they supply humus so much needed 
by all our lands, sick as they are from the one- 
crop system. 

Much of the meal now produced in the South 
finds its way to the dairy farms of Germany, 
England and the northern and western parts of 
our own country. 

Rich in protein, which is the basis of milk pro- 
duction, meal is naturally winning much favor as 
a dairy ration. A dairy cow with a capacity of 
three gallons of milk daily, requires two and one- 
half pounds of digestible protein. She can get 
this only from the protein of the food she con- 
sumes. Oil or starch or fiber will not make pro- 
tein. You cannot convert lead into gold by any 
process, nor can you take foods like timothy hay, 
orchard grass, corn stover, corn and like products, 
and make them furnish protein for the milk ration. 
Cottonseed meal stands foremost of all vegetable 
feeding stuffs in the quantity of digestible protein it 
contains. It follows then, that the cotton farmer, 
since he produces meal and since he produces the 



294 COTTON 

most valuable dairy food, should combine dairy- 
farming with cotton farming. In this way double 
profits may be made and cotton lands may be im- 
proved. 

EFFECT OF COTTONSEED MEAL ON BUTTER 

When meal is fed as a part or as the whole of 
the concentrate of a dairy ration, it raises the 
melting point of butter. As a matter of fact, cot- 
tonseed meal makes a harder butter than any 
other feed. A number of tests have been made, 
and the value of cottonseed meal as a superior 
butter-producing food is proved beyond all doubt. 
When fed in combination with hulls with no other 
feeding stuffs, a relatively inferior butter is j)ro- 
duced, but when combined with such materials 
as corn ensilage, corn stover, and cowpea hay, 
no better butter can be made by any feeding ration 
in the world. 

THE VALUE OF MEAL AS A DAIRY FOOD 

It is not stating the case too strongly to say 
that as a food for dairy cows cottonseed meal is 
superior to all others. When compared with 
wheat bran, the importance and value of which is 
known wherever butter is made, cottonseed meal 
increases the quantity of milk one-fifth. When 
compared with corn meal, the milk production is 
greatly increased. This is evidence enough to 
show that the value of cottonseed meal as a dairy 
food is not yet generally appreciated, and that for 
years to come, constantly increasing quantities 
will be used by wide-awake dairymen. 

MEAL AND HULLS FOR BEEF PRODUCTION 

Already the beef industry is assuming consid- 



COTTON 295 

erable proportions in the Cotton States, but when 
its present condition is compared with its real 
possibilities, what we have already done is quite 
inconsiderable indeed. Meal and hulls make up 
the bulk of the required fattening ration. To 
combine these two feeding stuffs, put them about 
in proportion of one pound of meal to four of 
hulls. As soon as the taste is acquired, both feeds 
are eaten with eagerness and with relish. 

But best results are not obtained by this sort of 
feeding. Cattle, like ourselves, enjoy and profit 
by variety in food. Meal and hulls should be 
combined with other feeding materials such as 
ensilage, corn stover, cowpeas, hay, etc. 

We cannot go far in this study of the feeding 
value of cotton by-products without accepting the 
indisputable proposition that the South will never 
make the money from its great staple that it ought 
to make until we find on every farm feeding steers 
and other cattle to utilize the meal and hulls that 
we bring from the oil mill in exchange for our seed. 



EFFECT OF COTTONSEED MEAL ON STEER FAT 



Tests have been made in which cottonseed meal 
has been compared with corn and which show that 
meal produces a fat having a higher melting point 
than that of corn -fed steers. The evidence of 
butchers and packers is in favor of cottonseed- 
meal-fed cattle. 

The best quality of beef and beef fat, however, 
is produced when the animals get the meal in con- 
nection with other concentrates and roughage 
materials. 



296 COTTON 

EASE OF FATTENING BEEVES WITH COTTONSEED 

MEAL 

Beef that meets the ideal for the plate must con- 
tain lean meat as well as fat. To give the highest 
satisfaction it must be marbled — have both lean 
and fat. Lean meat comes from the protein of the 
food, fat from the fat and carbohydrates of the 
food. This being the case, cottonseed meal and 
hulls possess the three materials for making beef 
possessing these two qualities. It is impossible 
to make better beef than when the cattle are given 
meal and hulls combined with corn ensilage or 
corn stover. 

HOW CORN AND MEAL COMPARE AS FATTENING 

FOODS 

In the popular mind corn represents the highest 
ideal as a grain and fattening food. On many 
farms meal is exchanged for Western corn, the 
owner thinking the latter a superior food, in fact 
regarding it as indispensable for live stock of any 
kind ; and so he disposes of his home grown prod- 
ucts rich in digestible nutrients and high in fer- 
tilizing materials, buys corn in exchange (with 
freight charges and dealer's profits added) corn 
being indeed a food of high quality for fattening 
purposes, but very low indeed in fertilizing value. 

What are the facts on this point as revealed by 
feeding tests ? 

In Station tests, one pound of cottonseed has been 
found to equal in feeding value — beef producing 
value — 1.1 3 pounds of corn meal; in other words, 
for feeding beef cattle preparatory to the market, 
cottonseed is superior to corn meal. 



COTTON 297 

When cottonseed meal was compared with corn 
meal, pound for pound, it was proved conclusively 
that 1 . 73 pounds of corn meal were required to 
produce the same weight of beef as one pound of 
cottonseed meal produced. 

This shows that in beef production one ton of 
cottonseed meal is equal to 1 . 73 tons of corn meal. 
Hence for feeding purposes, when corn is worth 
fifty cents per bushel or $18 . 00 per ton, cottonseed 
meal is worth $30.80 in beef production. 

Can the cotton farmer longer neglect the cattle 
industry, when he has in his own hand the feed 
which is most efficient and at the same time the 
least expensive and which possesses the richest 
manurial effects ? 

Cattle raising should go hand in hand with cotton 
culture. When so combined, they afford an ideal 
system of agriculture and more completely blend 
in promoting both profits and the maintenance of 
fertility than any other sort of land and animal 
management. We cannot too often emphasize the 
fact that the opportunity of the South lies in this 
direction. 

Will you take it up or permit it to pass by, as you 
have been doing heretofore ? 

Let the idea prevail all the time that fertilizers 
can be purchased best in the form of cattle foods; 
take a dollar and buy concentrates like meal and 
hulls, and first feed these, using the voidings and 
waste for the manurial effect on the land. You 
must not get away from this fundamental fact that 
the meal and hulls contain two values — one for 
feeding and one for fertilizing — and that in using 
them as a fertilizer alone, you are deliberately 
throwing away one profit — $18.75 for every ton of 
the meal. 



298 COTTON 

MEAL AND HULLS FOR HORSES AND MULES 

Horses and mules may be fed moderate quantities 
of meal and hulls with great advantage. No 
danger attaches to the use of hulls, but meal has 
always been fed rather sparingly. In recent years 
many experiments have been conducted which show 
that meal can form a part of the grain ration both 
profitably and satisfactorily. From two to four 
pounds may be used daily, although it is best not to 
make it a constant and regular diet. 

COTTONSEED MEAL FOR CALVES AND PIGS 

For reasons unknown meal seems not to be a de- 
sirable feeding stuff for calves and pigs. For a few 
weeks meal may be fed with impunity, but there 
soon comes a time when bad results follow — some- 
times death. 

WE NEED MORE LIVE STOCK 

While there is profit today in the razor-back hog, 
the long-legged, thin back, scrub steer, and the light 
carcassed wether, we need more animals and 
better animals. 

The by-products of our oil mills are not fully 
consumed : we need more cattle and sheep to utilize 
these materials . Of course, meal and hulls are no 
longer wasted; if the Cotton Belt is unable to utilize 
the product, the rest of the world is eager to secure 
it. But why should the South permit this ? Its 
lands suffer, since a ton of its meal when shipped 
away, means just so much valuable plant food, so 
much actual Cotton Belt soil-richness, sent else- 
where to build up lands in some other State. So 



COTTON 299 

long as butter and cheese and beef come to the 
South by express and freight, there is a demand, an 
opportunity, for the production of these commod- 
ities in Southern territory. 

Until every cotton farm possesses foundation 
stock for cattle and sheep and swine breeding, 
there are too few animals; until enough are raised 
to supply local markets, and to consume locally 
raised feeds, the live stock supply is short — and the 
cotton farmer fails to realize his opportunity for 
wealth and prosperity. 

WE NEED BETTER GRADES OF STOCK 

It is sadly true that the live stock of the Cotton 
Belt is extremely inferior. The average cow 
produces but 2,000 pounds of milk annually; the 
average steer matures in four or five years, and then 
only with a weight of 800 or 900 pounds. 

Is growing this kind of stock economy.? 

Do you cultivate your corn with a hoe or with a 
cultivator.? Do you harvest your wheat with a 
sickle or with a harvester ? Do you separate seed 
by hand or use the gin ? Do you even travel long 
distances now on horse-back, or do you go on the 
steam car.? 

Surely not. You use the most up-to-date tools 
and implements, and follow modern methods in 
everything but your live-stock machines : for the old 
scrub cow and scrub steer are simply out-of-date 
machines. 

More live stock then, and better, that the South 
may feed its own meal, to make its own butter, its 
own cheese, its own milk, its own meat: to get not 
only the profit of growing cotton and other feeding 
stuffs, but a profit in feeding it by means of the 



800 COTTON 

manufactured products it makes. So true is this 
it requires no one to champion the reasonableness 
of the proposition; rather it should be the eifort of 
every farmer, whether he possesses a few acres or 
many, to try to grow not only cotton, not only 
roughage material like peas and corn and meal and 
hulls, but live stock as well, that the by-products of 
his many crops may combine with others to produce 
milk and meat and butter and cheese; and at the 
same time produce a large quantity of home-made 
manures to rejuvenate and to build-up cotton lands. 
This is the great thought in the true philosohpy 
of farming; it is the magic key that unlocks the 
door to successful effort; it is the introduction to the 
throne of agricultural prosperity, and the beginning 
of a better and fuller life on the farm. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE RISE OF COTTON MANUFACTURING 

From time immemorial cotton has been used in 
the manufacture of textile fabrics for man, 
furnishing clothing for his body and sundry home 
comforts. It was not until a century or two ago, 
however, that its use for this purpose began to 
assume large proportions. Many important dis- 
coveries had first to be made; many great inven- 
tions perfected, before cotton could be manufac- 
tured so as to supply human wants at a cost in 
labor commensurate with the value of the fabric 
made. 

But so important a fiber, with such tremendous 
opportunities for large production, was not long to 
go undeveloped and unused, when man, reaching 
that stage in civilization where he should have need 
for it, adopted it as a rich find; pressed it into 
service at once ; put his ever-ready genius to master 
the problems of its production, its culture, its 
manufacture, until the day should come when to 
it, more than to all other fibers combined, attention 
and skill and labor should be given. 

THE BEGINNINGS OF COTTON MANUFACTURE 

The first factory was the cottage home. Long 
before the coming of the cotton factory, cotton was 

(301) 



302 COTTON 

known to a limited extent to England and to other 
countries of average civilization. Cotton possessed 
value as a textile fabric. And that these advan- 
tages were early appreciated there can be no doubt, 
since it was readily used whenever it could be 
obtained. Naturally, however, there could be no 
large growth so long as the supply varied constantly. 

We must understand, however, that for a century 
or more cotton had been used in a limited way for 
the weft or transverse threads of the web; the warp, 
or longitudinal threads, being of linen yarn, pro- 
duced mainly in Germany and Ireland. Cotton 
factories were of course unknown in those days, 
weaving being largely done in the homes of the 
weavers. This cotton-linen fabric was, during 
these times, made in these cottage homes, and later 
carried to the market, to which points the city 
merchants came and made their purchases. 

Sometime about the middle of the eighteenth 
century we find the beginning of a new era, when 
merchants began to send agents into the country to 
develop this embryonic but isolated factory system. 
The plan as introduced and carried out, secured 
linen for warp, and cotton for weft as had been used 
before; but now the merchants (through their 
agents) provided the raw materials, and hired the 
weavers to do the work. Before this time the 
weavers made all their purchases and sold their 
products themselves. Now the materials were 
furnished and they received wages for their labor. 
A radical change, you will see, had been inaugu- 
rated which doubtless worked to the common 
advantage of both parties. 

Up to this time cotton had been spun by means 
of the common spinning wheel in the weaver's 
own house — the same spinning wheel whose monot- 



COTTON 303 

onous roar, gloomy and melancholy as the north 
wind itself, may yet be heard on wintry days in 
many a humble home of the rural South: if one 
cares to study the question further, let him read 
Thomas Buchanan Read's famous poem, "The 
Closing Scene." Of course the work of this hand 
spinning wheel was — and is — slow and laborious, 
and it followed naturally that the product should 
be relatively expensive, and the wage of the laborer 
small indeed. 

THE COMING OF IMPROVED INVENTIONS 

The inauguration of the new scheme in manu- 
facturing was bound to work to its advantage, and 
hasten its development. It was no longer an 
individual concern. It now became a community 
interest, so governed, controlled and directed. 

Singular indeed is it that just at this critical 
period a number of improved inventions should be 
made, following one another just as men most 
needed them, and covering too, such widely differ- 
ent fields of human activity. Even the schoolboy 
has heard of the epoch making spinning-jenny of 
Hargreaves; spinning-frame of Arkwright; power 
loom of Cartwright; Watt's steam engine gind 
Whitney's cotton gin. 

First the spinning-jenny came in 1767, enabling 
from 16 to 30 threads to be spun with the same 
facility as one had been spun previously to that 
time, and it was subsequently brought to such 
perfection that a little girl was enabled to work 
from 80 to 100 spindles. 

While this invention itself marked a great 
advance, it did not go far enough, since the jenny 
then in use was applicable only to the spinning of 



304 COTTON 

cotton for weft or transverse threads, being unable 
to give that firmness and hardness which is re- 
quired for the longitudinal threads or warp. 

But the spinning-frame came a few years later. 
A really wonderful machine this was, spinning a 
large number of threads of any degree of fineness 
and hardness, calling on the operator simply to feed 
cotton to it, and to tie threads that broke accident- 
ally. Up to this time the hand loom was required 
for all of the work of weaving. That meant, of 
course, long, weary days for many, many people. 
Now something better was in store. The power 
loom was to supersede the work of the hand. And 
next, just as power is needed, behold it also comes! 
For Watt has succeeded with his steam engine, ready 
to supply the manufacturer with a new power appli- 
cable to every purpose, easy to control, and read- 
ily placed where most convenient, and right in 
the midst of an industrious people. 

But what are these inventions without cotton ? 
Can cotton farming and manufacturing become 
extensive while the seed must be separated from 
lint by hand ? 

It has been said that "necessity is the mother of 
all inventions." Surely if cotton goods were to be 
manufactured, it was necessary that cotton be pro- 
duced cheaply and that it be easily prepared for 
manufacturing. 

And so finally this brilliant series of practical in- 
ventions is completed with Whitney's cotton gin. 

Other inventions leading to the improvement of 
those here mentioned or blending with them in such 
a manner as to make their work more efiicient, 
called for increased quantities of raw cotton 
which could now be supplied economically and in 
quantities suflScient to meet the world's needs. 



COTTON 305 

Cotton manufacturing increased in England as 
did cotton production in America, and both so 
worked together that the cotton industry from seed 
to loom assumed large proportions, and has since 
continued to grow with every passing decade. 

PERFECTING THE INVENTIONS 

But these inventions still left gaps between 
cotton in its raw and its finished state, and these 
difficulties had to be met and gradually overcome. 

Of the inventions having direct relation to the 
spinning-jenny and the spinning-frame, the most 
important was that of the mule. Neither one of 
these other machines was complete in itself. It 
was left for Crompton to invent the machine which 
should retain the drawing out and winding features 
of the jenny, and that should have at the same 
time the rollers of the old spinning-frame. 

It will be seen that this new invention retained 
features of both the spinning-jenny and the spin- 
ning-frame. It was in this sense a hybrid; and 
later, by reason of this fact, it was given the name 
of mule, which it has ever since retained. 

A marvelous machine it is, called by whatever 
name, and it is in every^ sense one of the most 
wonderful and most easily operated machines that 
has ever been constructed. At the present time 
spinning mules are made as much as one hundred 
and twenty feet long, some having 1300 spindles 
which spin and wind 64 inches of thread in 15 
seconds; and only a couple of persons are needed 
to attend to the whole machine. The extremely 
fine yarns that are now made are the product of 
mule spinning, as well as much of the best soft 
thread used in manufacturing hosiery and under- 
wear. 



306 COTTON 

In looms, improvements have also been made 
that have contributed to greater ease in weaving. 
The old loom necessitated stopping whenever the 
yarn in the shuttle was exhausted and until a 
freshly filled shuttle could be inserted. Now such 
improvements have come that the shuttle may be 
filled without being removed and without replacing 
the shuttle itself, in either case without stopping the 
loom at all. This is a matter of considerable con- 
sequence since as much as one-half of the labor 
cost of converting a pound of cotton into woven 
cloth is in weaving. 

WHAT BECOMES OF YARN.? 

Yarns are used in many ways. In our country 
spinning and weaving are usually done by one and 
the same establishment. But in Great Britain 
and on the continent of Europe, the spinning and 
weaving operations are almost invariably separate, 
and as a rule bear no relation to each other. 

Throughout the cotton manufacturing world a 
great part of the yarn goes at once into plain cotton 
cloth. It is also used for warp in woolen and 
worsted goods, and also for knitting into under- 
wear. Considerable quantities of yarn are used 
for this purpose. 

For sewing thread and the finest grade of cotton 
thread for weaving, Sea Island cotton is principally 
used on account of its length,evenness and strength. 
After it has been spun into yarn it is next con- 
verted into thread by doubling and twisting until 
it is of the desired thickness and strength. 

COTTON MANUFACTURING IN AMERICA 

As early as 1787 records show that Great Brit- 
ain consumed nearly 23,000,000 pounds of cotton. 



COTTON 307 

A century later more than 1,650,000,000 pounds 
were consumed in making cotton goods, these hav- 
ing a commercial value of nearly $400,000,000. 
For 1904-05 her consumption is estimated as 
1,794,000,000 pounds. 

But while England early became noted for cotton 
manufacturing and has always led in cotton con- 
sumption and in number of spindles operated, 
America has had no small part in this wonderful 
development. At first progress was made slowly. 
Although the Southern States shared largely in 
starting cotton manufacturing, the first factory 
being in South Carolina, the Cotton States soon 
addressed themselves more exclusively to cotton 
farming, yielding to New England the supremacy 
in manufacturing the goods. One of the earliest 
manufacturing plants was established at Slater- 
ville, R. I., and as early as 1816 consumed 100,000 
bales of cotton, turned out 181,000,000 yards of 
cloth, employed thousands of operatives, and 
had a working capital of many millions of dollars. 

The greatest center of cotton manufacture has 
been in the city of Fall River, Mass. As late as 
1900 the two adjoining counties of Bristol in Mass- 
achusetts (in which Fall River is located) and 
Providence in Rhode Island contained about 
thirty per cent, of the spindles in the United States. 

The power loom was first put in use in mills at 
Waltham, Mass., from which place, after the ex- 
periment had been found successful, it went in 
every direction where cotton manufacturing had 
gone. 

SIZE OF THE world's INDUSTRY IN SPINDLES 

The unit of production in the cotton industry is 
the spindle. A large number of spindles is nee- 



308 



COTTOX 



essaiy in any mill, as the quantity of thread pro- 
duced per spindle is small. For instance, a mill 
with 10,000 spindles manufacturing Xo. -20 yarn, 
will produce in a day from a third to four-tenths of 
a pound of thread per spindle or from 3000 to -iOOO 
pounds total output. Yarn cannot be woven, 
cloth cannot be manufactured, until spindles first 
spin the lint into thread. The steady increase in 
number of spindles throughout the world is set 
forth in the following table : 



Countries 



1S61 



ISTo 



If 90 



1900 



Great Britain . . | 30,300,000 
Gsntinent of Eu- 
rope I 10,000,000 

India 338,000 

United States . . 5,000,000 



39,000,000 

19,400,000 
1,100,000 
9,500,000 



43,750,000 

34,575,000 
3,970,000 
14,190,000 



46,000,000 

33,000,000 

4,400,000 

19.475,000 



WORLD S CONSUMPTIOX OF COTTOX 

The average consumption of cotton throughout 
the world may be estimated at fifteen million bales 
annually. The leading centers of cotton manu- 
facture are not at the source of supply, but 
are thousands of miles away, where population 
is dense and labor abundant, trained and efficient. 

The consumption of cotton for several periods of 
manufacturing development is shown in the table 
following : 



Country 


1875 


1S90 


1900 


Great Britain 

Continent of Europe 

India 

United States 


1,500,000 
280,000 
290/XX) 
300,000 


3,3&4,000 

3,630,000 

920,000 

2,350,000 


3,269,000 
4,576,000 
1.000,000 
3,640,000 



COTTOX 309 

For last year (190-1-05; Messrs. Latham, Alex- 
ander & Co., the well known New York cotton 
authorities estimate the consumption of the several 
countries as follows : 

ESTIMATED COXSUMPTION 1904-05 

Great Britain (500-pound bales) 3,588,000 bales 
Continent (500 pound bales) 5,148,000 bales 

United States (500 pound bales) 4,310,255 bales 
Of Hght weight bales (averaging less 
than 500 pounds), the consump- 
tion of other countries last year 
was as follows : 

East India 1,350,000 bales 

Japan 875,000 bales 

Canada 130,000 bales 

Mexico 70,000 bales 

Various. . . • • 35,000 bales 



Total 15,506,;255 bales 

EXTENT OF COTTOX LSDUSTRT IN AMERICA 

Cotton manufacturing did not develop rapidly 
in the United States until the latter part of the nine- 
teenth century, when it not only made great growth 
in New England, but assumed enormous pro- 
portions in the Southern States, the seat of cotton 
production. 

In the early days of the industry cotton was 
carded and spun by machinery but weaving 
was done entirely by the hand loom. This was 
true as late as 1815 when the first power loom 
was installed, and it was a long time after that 



310 



COTTON 



before the hand loom became an inconsiderable 
factor in cotton goods making. Especially in 
rural districts, it had its place, along with the 
spinning wheel, in nearly every well regulated 
home. 

Cotton manufacturing in the United States has 
been extended gradually in all directions, increas- 
ing in annual output, capital and labor employed, 
until it has become one of the great industries of the 
land. 

This development is seen in the table below : 



Item 


1830 


1860 


1890 


1900 


Number of mills . 


801 


1,091 


324,866 


450,682 


Number of 










spindles . . . 


1,250,000 


5,235,000 


14,200,000 


19,000,000 


Number of looms 


33,400 


120,000 


325,000 


450,000 


Consumption of 










cotton in bales 


180,000 


845,000 


1,195,000 


3,640,000 


Persons employed 


62,200 


122,000 


221,585 


302,642 


Capital invested . 


$40,610,000 


$98,585,000 


$354,000,000 


$467,000,000 


Value of products 




115,680,000 


267,000,000 


339,000,000 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE COTTON FACTORY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 

"The four Southernmost States make a great 
deal of cotton. Their poor are almost entirely 
clothed in it in winter and summer." 

So wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1786. Without 
doubt his observation was first-hand and authentic. 
But where was this cotton manufactured ? In a 
cotton mill somewhere.^ No, that cannot be, for 
no cotton mill had yet been built on American soil. 
The cotton was home manufactured from lint, the 
seed having first been hand-picked. This manu- 
facturing was done in the home, for the home use 
of the inhabitants and the household. With the 
coming of the cotton gin, not only did the pro- 
duction of cotton increase, but its manufacture 
and use increased as well. 

Before the Civil War slave women, directed 
by their mistresses, largely clothed the plantation 
force with "homespun," as it was called. And it 
may be noted that even now, in spite of the cheap- 
ness of the manufactured product, many an old- 
fashioned country woman still cards her cotton into 
rolls, spins the product into thread on the spinning 
wheel, and with laborious shuttle weaves the 
thread into vari-colored counterpanes for her 
beds, into "breeches cloth" for her good man, or 
into underclothing for herself. 

(311) 



312 COTTON 

OUR FIRST COTTON MILL 

In the year 1787, Mrs. Ramage, widow of a 
South Carolina planter, realizing its greater econ- 
omy and so anticipating its financial success, 
erected a small cotton mill on James Island, near 
Charleston. Small in size and operated by horse- 
power, this was the first cotton factory erected 5n 
American soil, although a little later in the same 
year, another cotton factory, somewhat larger in 
capacity, was started at Beverly, Massachusetts. 
Then, years later, a second factory was built at 
Statesburg. Georgia was the second State to be- 
gin cotton manufacturing, but it was not until 1809 
that a small factory was erected at Louisville, this 
being also operated by horse-power. Two years 
later a much larger factory was built in Wilkes 
County, this one known as the "Bolton Factory." 
This building "was 60 feet by 40 feet, two stories, 
attic and basement, and was constructed of brown 
sandstone." It was the first factory of any con- 
sequence in Georgia. 

In North Carolina no factory was built until 1818 
when one was erected in Edgecombe County, 
which "began operating with 288 spindles, em- 
ployed about 20 hands, and consumed 18,000 
pounds of cotton, or according to the weights of 
those days, about 64 bales." 

LITTLE INTEREST IN COTTON MANUFACTURING 

While a great many cotton factories sprang up in 
the Southern States from 1800 to 1860, the South 
as a whole, cannot be said to have given manufac- 
turing very substantial encouragement. Rather it 
was discouraged — sometimes rather emphatically. 




INTERIOR VIEW OF COTION ISIILL. 

(A) Opening room showing openers; (B ■ canling room showing cards and draw- 
ig frames; (O lap room showing lap machines. 





COTTON MANUFACTURING IN THE SOUTH. 

(A I White Oak Mills, Greensboro, N. C, the largest American factory for the 
manufacture of blue denims; (B) Olympia Mills, Columbia, S. C, one of the largest 
in the South; (C) preparing goods for shipping. 



COTTON 313 

There were objections to the class of people it 
would attract; to the unwholesome influence of 
cotton factory life. It was argued that the South 
could better and more profitably develop the side 
of production, and leave the manufacturing to other 
places and to other people. It would mean more 
wholesome living, freer, purer life combined with 
individual independence and National safety. No 
doubt there was some ground for these arguments. 
The laborer was needed in the fields and could be 
ill-spared for the factory and its incidental duties. 
Production was to be developed; it was the basis 
on which the factory must be built; why cripple it, 
to engage in another industry, neither so desirable 
nor so profitable ? 

As a consequence of this unfavorable sentiment, 
comparatively few mills were erected, although 
some of those in the South were of considerable 
size and importance. In South Carolina, for in- 
stance, a factory was erected as early as 1846 which 
"contained 8400 spindles and 300 looms" — not 
a large one for our day, but one of no little note at 
the time it was built. And in North Carolina in 
1844 "it was estimated that 25 mills represented 
a capital of $1,050,000, operated 50,000 spindles, 
employed from 1200 to 1500 hands, and consumed 
15,000 bales of cotton." But for the development 
of slavery, Southern cotton manufacturing would 
doubtless have overcome all objections of its growth 
and have reached its present important position 
a great many years ago. 

RISE OF SOUTHERN COTTON FACTORIES 

As it is. War and Reconstruction demoralized 
everything, and the great development in Southern 



314 



COTTON 



cotton manufacturing has occurred during the past 
twenty years. Here the Carohnas, Georgia, Ala- 
bama make the best showing chiefly by reason of 
better chmatic conditions and more abundant 
water power. The slow development during the 
middle of the last century, and the rapid progress 
made within the last score of years, is seen in the 
following table giving the number of mills and 
spindles : 





SOUTH CAROLINA 


NORTH CAROLINA 


GEORGIA 


Year 


Mills 


Spindles 


Mills 


Spindles 


Mills 


Spindles 


1850 


18 


36,500 


28 


40,000 


35 


51,150 


1860 


17 


30,890 


39 


41,884 


33 


85,186 


1870 


12 


34,940 


33 


39,897 


34 


85,062 


1880 


14 


82,424 


49 


100,209 


40 


198,656 


1890 


44 


415,158 


105 


418,900 


62 


465,811 


1900 


115 


1,908,692 


218 


1,428,066 


107 


1,016,258 


1905 


161 


3,171,093 


263 


2,207,102 


129 


1,452,668 





ALABAMA 


Other Southern States 




Year 


Mills 


Spindles 


Mills 


Spindles 




1850 


12 


16,960 


77 


119,961 




1860 


14 


35,740 


69 


130,352 




1870 


13 


28,046 


62 


156,101 




1880 


16 


49,432 


44 


137,737 




1890 


17 


89,158 


55 


356,142 




1900 


49 


550,966 


87 


709,605 




1905 


66 


824,687 


88 


819,141 





RELATION OF CONSUMPTION TO PRODUCTION 

An interesting relationship is seen when the 
quantity of cotton consumed is compared with the 
quantity raised in each of these four leading cotton 
manufacturing States. 



COTTON 



315 



SOUTH CAROLINA 











Year 


Bales consumed 


Bales produced 


of Crop used 


1850 


9,929 


300,901 


3.3 


1860 


8,648 


353,412 


2.4 


1870 


10,811 


224,500 


4.8 


1880 


33,624 


522,548 


6.4 


1890 


164,814 


859,000 


19.2 


1900 


501,290 


743,294 


67.4 


1905 


625,190 


1,100,837 


56.7 



It is seen here that in the thirty years from 1850 
to 1880 South Carolina doubled consumption in 
proportion to her production ; in the next ten years 
this increased six times; while in 1900 it had in- 
creased 25 times. 



NORTH CAROLINA 









Per cent. 


Year 


Bales consumed 


Bales produced 


of Crop used 


1850 


13,617 


73,845 


18.4 


1860 


13,045 


145,514 


8.3 


1870 


9,632 


144,935 


6.6 


1880 


27,642 


389,598 


7.1 


1890 


140,817 


588,000 


23.9 


1900 


408,338 


554,032 


73.7 


1905 


602,150 


664,934 


90.5 



In 1850 North Carolina consumed slightly over 
one-fifth of her total production of cotton. Ten 
years later but one-tenth was consumed. This 
change was due not to decreased consumption 
but to the fact that the acreage has doubled. It 
was not until about 1890 that consumption in- 
creased on production, when it reached nearly 



316 



COTTON 



one-fourth; ten years later consumption called for 
three-fourths of total quantity produced ; five years 
later, in 1905, almost the entire quantity produced 
was consumed — or its equivalent — within the bor- 
ders of the State. 



ALABAMA 









Per cent. 


Year 


Bales consumed 


Bales produced 


of Crop used 


1850 


5,208 


564,429 


.9 


1860 


11,406 


989,955 


1.2 


1870 


7,385 


429,482 


1.7 


1880 


14,702 


699,654 


2.1 


1890 


30,364 


1,011,000 


3.0 


1900 


157,832 


1,021,845 


15.4 


1905 


223,872 


1,249,685 


17.9 



GEORGIA 









Per cent. 


Year 


Bales consumed 


Bales produced 


of Crop used 


1850 


20,230 


499,491 


4.3 


1860 


30,235 


701,840 


4.1 


1870 


24,821 


437,934 


5.7 


1880 


71,389 


814,441 


8.8 


1890 


164,981 


1,310,000 


12.6 


1900 


365,878 


1,271,573 


28.1 


1905 


483,335 


1,759,000 


27.5 



COTTON 



317 



CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION IN SOUTHERN 

STATES 









Per cent. 


Year 


Bales consumed 


Bales produced 


of Crop 
used 


1850 


80,300 


2,469,093 


17.2 


1860 


101,688 


5,387,052 


3.3 


1870 


83,068 


3,011,994 


1.9 


1880 


188,398 


5,755,359 


2.8 


1890 


5m,856 


7,472,511 


3.3 


1900 


1,570,812 


9,142,938 


7.1 


1905 


2,172,992 


10,697,013 


20.3 



This table shows that from 1850 to 1890 there 
was Httle gain in the percentage of Southern cotton 
manufactured at home. While the quantity con- 
sumed increased all the while, the quantity pro- 
duced likewise increased, much of the time in 
greater ratio than the increase in consumption. 
In 1890, however, as indicated in the table, the 
percentage manufactured in the Southern States 
was more than twice what it was in 1880, al- 
though the production had itself increased as much 
as 25 per cent. During the past ten years the con- 
sumption has grown very rapidly. 

SOUTHERN MANUFACTURING FAVORS THE 
PRODUCER 

Not only has the Southern factory-owner certain 
manifest advantages over his brother in New 
England, but the cotton farmer is also a gainer in 
having the factory at his door. Since New York 
and Liverpool are the important market places of 
the world, they naturally establish prices, and 
consequently the Southern consumer pays prices 



318 COTTON 

similarly offered at New York. Hence the pro- 
ducer practically saves this item of expense of 
freight in transportation. 

It has been calculated by the Industrial Com- 
mission that the difference in cost in marketing 
cotton is as follows : 

To local mill from farm, 50c per bale. 

To Northern or Western mill from farm, $3.00 
per bale. 

To foreign mill from farm, $5.00 to $7.00 per 
bale. 

Hence, it is apparent that Southern manufac- 
turing helps the producer as well as the consumer. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



THE MAKING OF COTTON GOOPS 

In considering which is our most important 
manufacturing industry, you will not be long in 
coming face to face with the fact that next to food, 
clothing is a first necessity of mankind. Many 
other things which we have come to regard as 
necessities might be dispensed with; but according 
to the old Bible story, the need of clothing was the 
first thing to occur to our first parents after they 
had eaten of the tree of knowledge; and from the 
primitive fig-tree costume of Adam and Eve in the 
Garden, the art of clothing has had a steady and 
wonderful evolution, century after century, genera- 
tion after generation, year after year. The savage 
man has his passion for food, but the desire for 
clothing is the first step toward civilization, and 
the step which has been reached in attention to 
dress will indicate perhaps as closely as anything 
else the progress a people has made away from 
barbarism. 

So it is that in clothing the earth's teeming 
millions, cotton stands forth today King indeed, 
wool and hemp having but a small place in com- 
parison — Cotton triumphant as the result of a test 
running through the ages! And every operation 



320 COTTON 

from growing the seed to manufacturing the 
finished cloth is full of interest to those who watch 
intelligently. 

The first step in cotton manufacturing, when 
cotton arrives at the mill in the form of a bale, is 
the opening process which consists of simply re- 
moving the ties and bagging (a fabric made of 
rope) that enclose the bale. The mixing opera- 
tion is next. Were all cotton just alike, and of 
the same uniformity, mixing would not be neces- 
sary, but fiber comes from lowlands and highlands, 
in long or short staple, of one variety or many 
varieties; so, unless thoroughly mixed, goods of 
widely varying quality will be produced. 

Many bales are therefore mixed together, by 
hand or by machine, the purpose all the time being 
to get a considerable quantity of cotton as uniform 
in quality as possible. 

From here cotton goes into a large machine that 
makes the lap, or gauzy film of cotton — first 
sheets of fleece three or four feet wide, but so 
very thin that sand, broken leaves and other im- 
purities drop from it of their own weight. And 
this is one of the reasons why the lap is made — to 
rid the cotton of these impurities, else yarn would 
be of poor quality. Three or four times this lap- 
ping process is repeated, the second and third 
machines using the product of the preceding ones. 
As a rule, four laps or films of the first machine 
pass through the second machine at once. All 
the while it is being further cleaned and prepared 
for the carding machines. 

Up to this point there has been no change in 
the form of cotton. It has been opened and the 
heavy impurities have fallen out, but it remains 
still the white, fluffy, fleecy material — now in rib- 





MANUFACTURING. 

(A) the Fancy Dobby Loom . ( B; cotton commerce calls for a ^rcat many cteam- 
ers to get the raw cotton abroad. 




COTTON FABRICS. 

(A) Sheeting; (B) print cloth; (C) sateen; (D) Fancy Dobby Cloth; (E) Jac= 
quard Cloth; (F) also Jacquard Cloth. 



COTTON 321 

bon form ready to go into a large roll or sheet, 
known as the completed "lap." 

CARDING 

The carding machine receives the lap. Its series 
of cylinders covered with wire brush take it around 
their course and deliver it at the front of the ma- 
chine, now in the shape of a cord of untwisted 
cotton known as the sliver. 

And here you see a beautiful sight indeed ! The 
fleecy white lap rushes eagerly into the combs, and as 
quickly disappears, soon again coming into view, 
white and spotless as ever, but now changed in 
form, for it has become a long round cord that is 
by and by to be the thread used in weaving our 
cotton fabrics. 

Next the sliver goes to the drawing -frame. Here 
a sort of doubling-up work is to be done. Some- 
thing like six slivers or untwisted cords are fed into 
the machine, out of which comes but one, but that 
one is better than the other six, for the fibers, at- 
tenuated and drawn out, are now more nearly 
parallel, more even and uniform. 

While the sliver that leaves the drawing-frame 
is but a sixth of the size of all that entered it, it is 
still too large and altogether too easily broken; 
the cord must be lessened in size and twisted a 
number of times that it may be strong and even. 
This work can be done only gradually, else mis- 
haps will occur and make good thread an impos- 
sibility. 

From the drawing frame the sliver goes to the 
slubber, which gives it its first twist, reduces it in 
thickness, renames it roving, and then passes the 
roving on to the intermediate and roving frames. 



322 COTTON 

which concludes the work preparatory to having 
roving spun into thread. 

SPINNING 

The roving is now transferred to a spinning 
machine for the final process of making the yarn 
or thread. The purpose sought here is fineness 
of the requisite degree and the twisting and wind- 
ing of the thread to make it ready for the weaver. 
One of two machines may do the work: the mule 
or the ring frame, either of which makes a thread 
which is used largely without further treatment 
whatever. 

The mule is used for the finest threads that are 
made, and also for soft twisted yarns for knitting 
purposes. 

The thread is now spun, and only a few things 
remain to be done before it may be sent to factory 
and used in the loom. 

Spooling comes first, a simple process of wind- 
ing yarn from spinners' bobbins on spools by 
means of the spooler. This done, it is now passed 
on to the warper. Threads are laid in the slasher- 
beam that sizing may be done in order to facilitate 
weaving. Sizing is made of starch, tallow, and 
some preservative to prevent mildew. Finally the 
threads are drawn through the harness — for weav- 
ing and manufacturing of cloth is begun — an oper- 
ation not difficult in plain goods. But as yarns 
are made finer and more fancy cloth produced, 
the art of weaving becomes quite complicated and 
painstaking. 

WEAVING 

In the weaving room the loom is the all-import- 



COTTON 323 

ant machine. And here you doubtless recall old 
traditions that have come down through your 
family of the time when cotton was not only spun 
in the home but woven there as well. Now, though 
the hand loom and the spinning wheel have al- 
most disappeared, they have had their share in 
history making. 

As has been suggested before, the loom uses two 
sets of threads, known as warp and filling. The 
set running throughout the length is the warp, and 
those threads extending from side to side, make 
the filling, weft, or woof. 

The loom works on the principle of three move- 
ments : the first separates the threads of the warp 
longitudinally into two sets, leaving a space through 
which to pass the weft; the second passes the 
filling through that space, and the third presses 
the thread of filling up against the one preceding 
it. All weaving is built upon this principle, 
though different processes have been employed in 
making the different fabrics. 

Looms may be divided into three classes: plain 
looms, (operated either by hand or power), fancy 
looms, and Jacquard looms. 

An important part of the power loom is the 
harness. This is simply a skeleton frame of rods 
placed parallel to one another on which are a series 
of heddles, with eyes at the center through which 
the warp threads pass. These heddles for plain 
goods are generally knit from cotton with an eye 
through the center and varnished so as to work 
freely through the threads. As the number of 
harnesses is increased, weaving becomes more com- 
plicated, and produces finer cloth and more costly 
fabrics. 

Plain looms, as a rule, have but two harness 



324 COTTON 

shafts, thougih there may be as many as six when 
twills and sateen are made, while fancy looms and 
Jacquard looms possess a great many more — 
sometimes as many as twenty-five or thirty. 

The harness in connection with the hand loom 
is controlled by the action of the weaver's foot on 
the treddles. The shuttle is propelled by hand, 
and the stroke of the handle or batten, usually 
hung from an elevated stand, is also made by 
hand. 

OPERATION IN WEAVING 

In plain weaving all threads are drawn through 
the harness shafts. In the middle of each harness 
is a small eye, through which each individual 
thread is drawn, the thread passing through the 
harness shafts alternately. On the front harness 
shaft you will find one of these and another on the 
back. This enables one-half of the threads to be 
raised in one pick of filling. This pick simply 
lays in the filling thread, which is accomplished by 
the shuttle passing between; the first harness is 
lowered while the second harness is raised, and 
another pick of filling is inserted. This operation 
goes on, one thread at a time, until the desired 
length of cloth is woven. 

By raising the warp threads in the fabric diagon- 
ally, we have still a higher step in weaving. This 
is known as drill or twill weaving. In drill weav- 
ing three harnesses are used usually, and in twill 
four or more. 

The making of sateen is another step in advance; 
here five or six, or even eight, harnesses are gener- 
ally used, sometimes as many as twelve or four- 
teen. You are familiar with the lustrous appear- 



COTTON 325 

ance of this style of goods. This is obtained by 
covering the intersections of warp and filling. 
While sateen weaves are derived from twill weaves, 
the threads are not raised as in twills. 

Standard gingham cloth is made from two colors 
of warp and two colors of filling, checked with one 
another. They are made in various colors: black 
and white, brown and white, green and white, and 
in other combinations of colors. These ginghams 
are also used as the basis for plaids or over-checks, 
so that in this kind of weaving many fancy effects 
in colors are produced, requiring more skill for 
operation, and enhancing the value of the woven 
product. Fancy effects may be made in stripes, 
checks, or figures. 

Mercerized cloth is also made of cotton, and 
both plain and fancy effects may be made. The 
silky appearance of the product is obtained by 
immersmg cotton threads in a solution of caustic 
soda, and while thus immersed they are held very 
tight. These threads are two ply, that is, two 
twisted together. Before being immersed in the 
caustic soda solution they are passed through a 
gas frame (this being done very quickly, so as not 
to injure the thread) to take off the roughness so 
that the smooth texture may be obtained. In 
weaving fancy goods threads may be drawn through 
the harness shaft in any order, depending on the 
pattern to be produced. 

There are many grades of fancy cloth produced, 
depending upon the design, the quality of the 
thread, number of harnesses the machine possesses, 
and the skill of the operator. Weavers call the 
machine that makes fancy goods a "Dobby." 

A still further advance in the production of 
fancy cloth has come with the invention of the 



326 COTTON 

Jacquard loom, a machine named after a French- 
man who was its inventor. The fabrics pro- 
duced on the Jacquard vary considerably in extent. 
Any kind of animal, vegetable, or floral effect may 
be produced upon the cloth. This kind of prod- 
uct usually sells at a higher price than any other 
fancy cloth. Fancy fabrics, such as shirt waists, 
dress goods, table covers, and the like, are woven 
by this machine. 

CLASSES OF COTTON GOODS 

In a general way we may say that five different 
kinds of cotton goods are made through the use of 
these several kinds of machines. 

1. Plain Goods: — We find here print cloth, 
sheeting, mull, lawn, Madras, nainsook, tea cloth, 
etc. The only difference in these kinds of cloth 
lies in the number of threads, picks per inch, the 
fineness of the yarn, and the finish given after 
weaving. American cotton may be used for all of 
these weaves excepting Madras, for which purpose 
Sea Island or Egyptian cotton is required. 

2. Twills: — These fabrics, having lines running 
diagonally across, include different kinds of linings 
such as those used for men's coats, women's coats, 
dress linings, and the like. This weave is also 
extensively used for denim, out of which overalls 
and other coarse goods are made. 

3. Sateen: — This style of fabric is used quite 
extensively for shirt waists, dress linings, and 
dress goods. 

4. Fancy Cloth: — The greater part of the cloth 
used for children's dresses, women's shirt waists 
and dresses, various kinds of trimmings, scrim for 
draperies and heavy towels, are included in this 
class. 



COTTON 327 

5. Jacquard Fabrics: — Included in this class are 
the most complicated forms of fancy fabrics. They 
are also used for cloths suitable for making shirt 
waists, dress goods, bed spreads, table covers, 
and novelties. 

While cotton is used for many other purposes as 
thread and underwear, the greater part of it goes 
into such commercial goods as have been mentioned 
here. 

RELATIVE VALUES IN COTTON MANUFACTURING 

Of course plain weaving, since it requires less 
skill and involves less complication than other 
forms, possesses the least commercial value. 
Sheeting may be taken as an example. It sells 
for five cents a yard, although only one pound of 
cotton is required to make three or four or even 
five yards of cloth — depending upon the weight. In 
this respect then, a pound of cotton bought at ten 
cents a pound is sold, when manufactured, at 
eighteen or twenty cents a pound. 

On the contrary, embroidery, one of the highest 
forms of cotton goods manufactured, sells at 
twenty dollars a pound. The skill required in its 
manufacture, the complications of the various 
processes, have made from a single pound of cot- 
ton (of the best quality, of course) a pound now 
worth twenty dollars. All other cotton goods on 
the market have a commercial value ranging in 
price from that of the lowest grade of sheeting to 
that of the highest forms of embroidery. 

WHAT A POUND OF COTTON WILL MAKE 

Cotton weaving yarns are made and sold by 
the pound. The finer the threads, the greater the 



328 COTTON 

number of yards in a pound. Hence, any fabric 
varies in cost, and in the number of yards made 
from a pound of raw cotton in proportion to the 
fineness of the yarn from which it is woven. 

Taking averages only, one pound of cotton 
worth ten cents may be manufactured into: 

1^ yards of Denim worth 18 cents. 

4 yards of Sheeting worth 20 cents. 

4 yards of Bleached Muslin worth 32 cents. 

7 yards of Calico worth 35 cents. 

6 yards of Gingham worth 45 cents. 

10 yards of Shirtwaists worth $1.50. 

10 yards of Lawn worth $2.50. 

25 Handkerchiefs worth $2.50. 

56 spools of No. 40 Sewing Thread worth $2.80. 

In giving these figures only an estimate of the 
number of yards can be made. This will vary 
according to the fineness of the yarns, the number 
of threads, and "picks" per inch in the cloth. 

The threads that are used in weaving are known 
as "numbers" or "counts." The thinner the 
thread the greater the number it will have. This 
matter may be stated thus: A pound of cotton is 
passed through all the preparatory machines in the 
mill — ^lapping, carding, drawing, slubbing, and spin- 
ning; if this one pound of raw cotton is made into 
one thread measuring 840 yards the "number" or 
"counts" of the thread will be 1. If a pound of 
cotton is drawn out to 1680 yards the "counts" will 
be doubled. So a pound of cotton may be drawn 
out to almost any desired length, making the fabric 
(with which the threads are woven) vary in weight 
according to the thickness of the threads. It is 
a common occurrence to spin a pound of cotton 
into 84,000 yards of thread or even to a length 
exceeding one hundred miles. 



COTTON 329 

In this chapter, of course, only a mere outline of 
fundamental facts has been attempted, and any 
adequate treatment of the subject would require 
an entire volume. But we hope it has enabled the 
reader to get a better idea of the cotton fiber in its 
final phase preparatory to entering on its destiny 
in clothing mankind. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

conclusion: — the epic of the cotton that is 
yet to be written 

We have now followed the progress of the cotton 
plant — followed it in history from the time the 
ancient disciples of Brahma in the Orient first 
began its use ; followed it in growing from the time 
the seed is put into the cool, fresh earth in spring 
until its snowy harvest is gathered in December; 
followed it in marketing and manufacturing from 
the time it passes through Whitney's gin until the 
once-rejected seed are turned to a thousand 
growing uses of mankind and the lint is set to its 
task of making prince's palace more gorgeous or 
beggar's body more comfortable; followed it in 
commerce from the sunny fields of Texas or 
Mississippi to the frozen regions of the Arctic or 
the sleeping Empire of the Celestials, or to our new- 
caught, sullen peoples in far-away Asia or Africa. 

And yet we have not written, as we should like to 
write, the real Epic of the Cotton. In fact, it 
cannot be written yet, for we have not yet come to a 
realization of the full significance of the South 's 
great industry. 

It is indeed a rich heritage that we have — a 
monopoly of the American export crop which not 
only surpasses any other in value, but is worth more 
than all others combined; a monopoly of the one 

(330) 



COTTON 331 

great crop of the world for which Nature has pro- 
vided no substitute; the basis of a commerce whose 
influence is measured only by the rising tide of 
enlightenment and whose condition is the ther- 
mometer of civilization; the crop which, when 
properly handled, is of all our crops the one least 
exhaustive of the land's fertility, and which yields 
a seed that would in itself make cotton worth 
cultivating if it had no Fleece of Gold to keep its 
tens of thousands of modern Argonauts upon our 
every sea; yielding the richest of cattle feeds, it will 
yet dot the hills and valleys of the South with a 
million flocks and herds, and so restore our fam- 
ished "old fields" to virgin richness and beauty; 
our manufacture of cotton, now only begun, will 
also grow in the Piedmont South until the hum of 
our spindles shall be heard as far as those of 
England herself ; and the Panama Canal will soon for 
the first time open full the doors of the Orient to our 
commerce, and Southern industry will throb afresh, 
as if new blood had been poured into its veins. 
Then, indeed, shall we have a section sunny in 
climate, in people, in prospects; we shall add to 
the chivalry and courage of the Old South the 
progress and prosperity of the New — and in the 
coming literary awakening, some more gifted 
author will at last write the real Epic of the Cotton, 
and in American letters the South' s own snowy 
fields will become as famous as New England's 
gifted sons and daughters have made the ice fields 
of the colder North. 



7Fn 9;d47 



